UCL Discovery
UCL home » Library Services » Electronic resources » UCL Discovery

The importance of second shell effects in the simulation of hydrated Sr²⁺ hydroxide complexes.

Makkos, E; Kerridge, A; Kaltsoyannis, N; (2015) The importance of second shell effects in the simulation of hydrated Sr²⁺ hydroxide complexes. Dalton Transactions , 44 (25) pp. 11572-11581. 10.1039/c5dt01110h. Green open access

[thumbnail of kaltsoyannis_second_shell_effects.pdf]
Preview
Text
kaltsoyannis_second_shell_effects.pdf

Download (2MB) | Preview

Abstract

Density functional theory at the meta-GGA level is employed to study the microsolvation of Sr(2+) hydroxides, in order to establish likely candidate species for the interaction of nuclear fission-generated strontium with corroded Magnox fuel cladding in high pH spent nuclear fuel storage ponds. A combination of the COSMO continuum solvation model and one or two shells of explicit water molecules is employed. Inclusion of only a single explicit solvation shell is unsatisfactory; open regions are present in the strontium coordination shell which would not exist in real aqueous complexes, and many optimised structures possess unavoidable energetic instabilities. Incorporation of a second shell of explicit waters, however, yields energetically minimal structures without open regions in the first strontium coordination shell. The most stable systems with one, two or three hydroxide ions are all 6-coordinated with a distorted trigonal antiprismatic geometry, whereas systems with four OH(-) ions have a most stable coordination number of five. Transformation, via a proton transfer mechanism, from one coordination mode to another (e.g. from a system with two hydroxides bound directly to the strontium to one in which a hydroxide ion migrates into the second coordination shell) is found to be energetically facile. It is concluded that the most likely strontium-hydroxide complexes to be found in high pH aqueous solutions are mono- and dihydroxides, and that these coexist.

Type: Article
Title: The importance of second shell effects in the simulation of hydrated Sr²⁺ hydroxide complexes.
Location: England
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1039/c5dt01110h
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c5dt01110h
Language: English
Additional information: Open Access Article. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence.
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1468888
Downloads since deposit
Loading...
128Downloads
Download activity - last month
Loading...
Download activity - last 12 months
Loading...
Downloads by country - last 12 months
1.United States
3
2.Russian Federation
2
3.Japan
1

Archive Staff Only

View Item View Item