Local density augmentation and dynamic properties of hydrogen-and non-hydrogen-bonded supercritical fluids: a molecular dynamics study

The local density inhomogeneities in neat supercritical fluids were investigated via canonical molecular dynamics simulations. The selected systems under investigation were the polar and hydrogen-bonded fluid methanol as well as the quadrupolar non-hydrogen-bonded carbon dioxide one. Effective local densities, local density augmentation, and enhancement factors were calculated at state points along an isotherm close to the critical temperature of each system (T(r)=1.03). The results obtained reveal strong influence of the polarity and hydrogen bonding upon the intensity of the local density augmentation. It is found that this effect is sufficiently larger in the case of the polar and associated methanol in comparison to those predicted for carbon dioxide. For both fluids the local density augmentation values are maximized in the bulk density region near 0.7rho(c), a result that is in agreement with experiment. In addition, the local density dynamics of each fluid were investigated in terms of the appropriate time correlation functions. The behavior of these functions reveals that the bulk density dependence of the local density reorganization times is very sensitive to the specific intermolecular interactions and to the size of the local region. Also, the estimated local density reorganization time as a function of bulk density of each fluid was further analyzed and successfully related to two different time-scale relaxation mechanisms. Finally, the results obtained indicate a possible relationship between the single-molecule reorientational dynamics and the local density reorganization ones.