Abstract
Interactive molecular dynamics simulation in virtual reality (iMD-VR) is emerging as a promising technique in molecular science. Here, we demonstrate its use in a range of fifteen applications in materials science and heterogeneous catalysis. In this work, the iMD-VR package Narupa is used with the MD package, DL_POLY [1]. We show how iMD-VR can be used to: (i) investigate the mechanism of lithium fast ion conduction by directing the formation of defects showing that vacancy transport is favoured over interstitialcy mechanisms, and (ii) guide a molecule through a zeolite pore to explore diffusion within zeolites, examining in detail the motion of methyl n-hexanoate in H-ZSM-5 zeolite and identifying bottlenecks restricting diffusion. iMD-VR allows users to manipulate these systems intuitively, to drive changes in them and observe the resulting changes in structure and dynamics. We make these simulations available, as a resource for both teaching and research. All simulation files, with videos, can be found online (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8252314) and are provided as open-source material.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 108606 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Journal of Molecular Graphics and Modelling |
Volume | 125 |
Early online date | 24 Aug 2023 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Dec 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:BP plc is thanked for financial support of J.C-L and J.D. through industrial CASE studentships in partnership with the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) . Dr Simon Bennie assisted at the start of this project and participated in some discussions. JC-L acknowledges support from a 2019 summer bursary awarded by CCP5 (under EPSRC Grant EP/M022617/1 ) to Dr Bennie. The work has also been supported by EPSRC Grant, EP/M022609/1 (AJM) and BBSRC Grant BB/RO16445/1 (AJM).
Keywords
- Virtual Reality
- Materials
- Molecular Dynamics
- Zeolites
- Fast Ion Conductors
- Simulation and Modelling
- Catalysis
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Alam, S. R. (Manager), Eccleston, P. E. (Other), Williams, D. A. G. (Manager) & Atack, S. H. (Other)
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