Environment Dependent Charge Potential for Water

Abstract

We present a new interatomic potential for water captured in a charge-transfer embedded atom method (EAM) framework. The potential accounts for explicit, dynamical charge transfer in atoms as a function of the local chemical environment. As an initial test of the charge-transfer EAM approach for a molecular system, we have constructed a relatively simple version of the potential and examined its ability to model the energetics of small water clusters. The excellent agreement between our results and current experimental and higher-level quantum computational data signifies a successful first step towards developing a unified charge-transfer potential capable of accurately describing the polymorphs, dynamics, and complex thermodynamic behavior of water.