TITLE:

An In-Silico View of Wild Fluctuations in Watery Systems

Speaker: Dr. ALI AHMED HASSANALI (ICTP, Italy)

Date and time: Tuesday, 19 July 2022 at 4:00 (GMT+2)

Physical venue: EAIFR’s conference hall (top floor)

Abstract:

Water is considered the solvent for sustaining life as we know it on planet Earth. Despite long study, very basic notions in physical chemistry such as hydrophobicity, continue to be the source of numerous open questions. In this talk, I will give an overview of how the use of atomistic modeling with various degrees of complexity provides a powerful framework that allows for developing a detailed microscopic understanding of the wide variety of fluctuations that exist in liquid water. These fluctuations occur on different length and timescales and involve the complex coupling of density, topology and dielectrics. Within this context, I will discuss problems ranging from the complex shapes of empty spaces in liquid water and their role in solvation, to how oil and water can counterintuitively mix and finally, why soap bubbles might be used for artificial photosynthesis, to name a few. Building a microscopic understanding of the collective nature of the fluctuations in these systems requires us to move beyond our  “chemical imagination”. In this spirit, I will present how data-science and chemical intuition can be combined to provide a more nuanced way to study the chemical physics of aqueous systems.

The seminar will be streamed in the conference hall on EAIFR’s top floor (EINSTEIN Block, former “KIST2” Building, UR-CST, Nyarugenge campus).