Structure and Dynamics of Interfacial Water

Résumé

There are few molecules, if any, more important than water. However, remarkably little is known about how it interacts with surfaces, particularly at the molecular level. In this talk I will discuss some of our recent work on the application and development of a variety of state of the art computer simulation methods to better understand the structure and dynamics of water at surfaces and under confinement. Specific topics discussed will include work carried out in collaboration with experimentalists to understand the growth and diffusion of ice clusters at metal surfaces, heterogenous ice nucleation, and water confined within 1- and 2-dimensional membranes. Methodological developments aimed at providing more accurate treatments of adsorption on and bonding within solids will also be covered, as well as an efficient machine learning strategy for simulating complex aqueous interfaces.

Angelos Michaelides

Angelos Michaelides obtained a PhD in Theoretical Chemistry in 2000 from The Queen's University of Belfast. Following this, he worked as a post-doctoral research associate and junior research fellow at the University of Cambridge and then at the Fritz Haber Institute, Berlin as an Alexander von Humboldt research fellow and subsequently research group leader. Between 2006 and 2020 he was at University College London where he was Director and Co-Director of the Thomas Young Centre: The London Centre for the Theory and Simulation of Materials and the founding Director of the Materials and Molecular Modelling Hub. Since 2020 he has been the 1968 Professor of Chemistry at the University of Cambridge.