Solvation and ion pair association in aqueous metal sulfates: Interpretation of NDIS raw data by isobaric–isothermal molecular dynamics simulation

Abstract

We analyzed the solvation behavior of aqueous lithium, nickel, and ytterbium sulfates at ambient conditions in terms of the relevant radial distributions functions and the corresponding first-order difference of the sulfur-site neutron-weighted distribution functions generated by isothermal-isobaric molecular dynamics simulation. We determined the partial contributions to the neutron-weighted distribution functions, to identify the main contributing peaks of the corresponding radial distribution functions, and the effect of the contact ion-pair configuration on the resulting water’s hydrogen coordination around the sulfate’s sulfur site. Finally, we assessed the extent of the ion-pair formation according to Poirier–DeLap formalism and highlighted the significant increase of the ion-pair association exhibited by these salts with cation charge.