Abstract
Using a coarse-grained molecular dynamics (CMD) approach we study the apparent nonlinear dynamics of water molecules filling or emptying carbon nanotubes as a function of system parameters. Different levels of the pore hydrophobicity give rise to tubes that are empty, water-filled, or fluctuate between these two long-lived metastable states. The corresponding coarse-grained free-energy surfaces and their hysteretic parameter dependence are explored by linking MD to continuum fixed point and bifurcation algorithms. The results are validated through equilibrium MD simulations.
- Received 17 February 2005
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.130603
©2005 American Physical Society