To quantify the topology of the SAM structure, we subsample each SAM simulation using non-overlapping sets of 800 simulation time steps (800 picoseconds). We then compute a time-averaged EC value for the hydrogen bonding network G ww within the interfacial layer denoted as ⟨χ(G ww )⟩ for each subsample. We will represent the EC value for graphs G as χ(G) to distinguish it from the EC values computed for manifolds (denoted as χ). The presence (or absence) of hydrogen bonds between water molecules was computed using the Luzar-Chandler criterion. For an interval of simulation time points t ∈ [a, b)