Computer simulation of metal-organic materials.

摘要

Computer simulations of metal-organic frameworks are conducted to both investigate the mechanism of hydrogen sorption and to elucidate a detailed, molecular-level understanding of the physical interactions that can lead to successful material design strategies. To this end, important intermolecular interactions are identified and individually parameterized to yield a highly accurate representation of the potential energy landscape. Polarization, one such interaction found to play a significant role in H 2 sorption, is included explicitly for the first time in simulations of metal-organic frameworks. Permanent electrostatics are usually accounted for by means of an approximate fit to model compounds. The application of this method to simulations involving metal-organic frameworks introduces several substantial problems that are characterized in this work. To circumvent this, a method is developed and tested in which atomic point partial charges are computed more directly, fit to the fully periodic electrostatic potential. In this manner, long-range electrostatics are explicitly accounted for via Ewald summation. Grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations are conducted employing the force field parameterization developed here. Several of the major findings of this work are: Polarization is found to play a critical role in determining the overall structure of H2 sorbed in metal-organic frameworks, although not always the determining factor in uptake. The parameterization of atomic point charges by means of a fit to the periodic electrostatic potential is a robust, efficient method and consistently results in a reliable description of Coulombic interactions without introducing ambiguity associated with other procedures. After careful development of both hydrogen and framework potential energy functions, quantitatively accurate results have been obtained. Such predictive accuracy will aid greatly in the rational, iterative design cycle between experimental and theoretical groups that are attempting to design metal-organic frameworks for a variety of purposes, including H2 sorption and CO2 sequestration.