Water clusters adsorbed on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons: Energetics and conformational dynamics

International audience; In this work, we present some classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and finite temperature infrared (IR) spectra of water clusters adsorbed on coronene (C24H12), a compact polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH). The potential energy surface is obtained within the self-consistent-charge density-functional based tight-binding approach with modifications insuring the correct description of water-water and water-PAH interactions. This scheme is benchmarked for the minimal energy structures of (C24H12)(H2O)n (n = 3-10) against density-functional theory (DFT) calculations and for the low-energy isomers of (H2O)6 and (C6H6)(H2O)3 against correlated wavefunction and DFT calculations. A detailed study of the low energy isomers of (C24H12)(H2O)3, 6 complexes is then provided. On-the-fly Born-Oppenheimer MD simulations are performed in the temperature T range 10-350 K for (C24H12)(H2O)n (n = 3-7) complexes. The description of the evolution of the systems with T is provided with emphasis on (C24H12)(H2O)n (n = 3,6). For T in the range 50-150 K, isomerisation processes are observed and when T increases, a solid-to-liquid phase-change like behavior is shown. The desorption of one water molecule is frequently observed at 300 K. The isomerisation processes are evidenced on the finite temperature IR spectra and the results are presented for (C24H12)(H2O)n (n = 3,6). A signature for the edge-coordination of the water cluster on the PAH is also proposed.