Proton Transport in Perfluorinated Ionomer Simulated by Machine-Learned Interatomic Potential

Author(s)
Ryosuke Jinnouchi, Saori Minami, Ferenc Karsai, Carla Verdi, Georg Kresse
Abstract

Polymers are a class of materials that are highly challenging to deal with using first-principles methods. Here, we present an application of machine-learned interatomic potentials to predict structural and dynamical properties of dry and hydrated perfluorinated ionomers. An improved active-learning algorithm using a small number of descriptors allows to efficiently construct an accurate and transferable model for this multielemental amorphous polymer. Molecular dynamics simulations accelerated by the machine-learned potentials accurately reproduce the heterogeneous hydrophilic and hydrophobic domains formed in this material as well as proton and water diffusion coefficients under a variety of humidity conditions. Our results reveal pronounced contributions of Grotthuss chains consisting of two to three water molecules to the high proton mobility under strongly humidified conditions.

Organisation(s)
Computational Materials Physics
External organisation(s)
VASP Software GmbH, Toyota Central R&D Labs., Inc.
Journal
Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters
Volume
14
Pages
3581-3588
No. of pages
8
ISSN
1948-7185
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.3c00293
Publication date
04-2023
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
103018 Materials physics, 102009 Computer simulation
ASJC Scopus subject areas
General Materials Science, Physical and Theoretical Chemistry
Portal url
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/a8e15aec-10c2-47ec-b590-393396a0ceb0