Diffusion Coefficients Of Nitric Oxide In Water: A Molecular Dynamics Study

Self-diffusion coefficients along with the mutual diffusion coefficients of nitric oxide (NO) and SPC/E water (H2O) as solute and solvent of the mixture, have been studied within the framework of classical molecular dynamics level of calculations using GROMACS package. The radial distribution function (RDF) of the constituent compounds are calculated to study solute solute, solute solvent and solvent solvent molecular interactions as a function of temperature. A dilute solution of five NO molecules (mole fraction 0.018) and 280 H2O molecules (mole fraction 0.982) has been taken as the sample. The self-diffusion coefficient of the solvent is calculated by using mean square displacement (MSD) where as that for solute (NO) is calculated by using MSD and velocity auto-correlation function (VACF). The results are then compared with the available experimental values. The results from the present work for water come in good agreement, very precise at low temperatures, with the experimental values. The diffusion coefficients of NO, on the other hands, agree well with the available theoretical studies, and also with experiment at low temperatures (up to 310 K). The results at the higher temperatures (up to 333 K), however, deviate significantly with the experimental observations. Also, the mutual diffusion coefficients of NO in water have been calculated by using Darken's relation. The temperature dependence of the calculated diffusion coefficients follow the Arrhenius behavior.