The structure of liquid water and adsorbed leucine at solid surfaces of tunable hydropho¬bicity has been examined by molecular dynamics simulation. The results have been used to extend models of water ordering at superhydrophobic surfaces to create a general model of density-dependent ordering of water and adsorbates at hydrophobic interfaces. In this model, interfacial water structures can be classified according to two hydrophobic regimes, a non-wetting structure and a semi-wetting structure, distinguished by the orientation of interfacial water molecules. We propose that the emergence of the wetting-type order is strongly dependent on the density profile across the interfacial region. Leucine adsorbed at the same surfaces also shows two patterns of adsorption, distinguished by the proportion of time the molecule adopts an orientation parallel to the surface. These patterns correspond to the non-wetting and semi-wetting regimes of water and also arise from the density structure of water in the interfacial region.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uvic.ca/oai:dspace.library.uvic.ca:1828/3100 |
| Date | 15 November 2010 |
| Creators | Trudeau, Travis Gerard |
| Contributors | Hore, Dennis K. |
| Source Sets | University of Victoria |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | Available to the World Wide Web |
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