Anomalous dynamics of confined water at low hydration

Abstract

The mobility of water molecules confined in a silica pore is studied by computer simulation in the low hydration regime, where most of the molecules reside close to the hydrophilic substrate. A layer analysis of the single particle dynamics of these molecules shows an anomalous diffusion with a sublinear behaviour at long time. This behaviour is strictly connected to the long time decay of the residence time distribution analogously to water at contact with proteins.