Title: Real single ion solvation free energies with quantum mechanical simulation,
Abstract: Single ion solvation free energies are one of the most important properties
of electrolyte solutions and yet there is ongoing debate about what these
values are. Only the values for neutral ion pairs are known. Here, we use DFT
interaction potentials with molecular dynamics simulation (DFT-MD) combined
with a modified version of the quasi-chemical theory (QCT) to calculate these
energies for the lithium and fluoride ions. A method to correct for the error
in the DFT functional is developed and very good agreement with the
experimental value for the lithium fluoride pair is obtained. Moreover, this
method partitions the energies into physically intuitive terms such as surface
potential, cavity and charging energies which are amenable to descriptions with
reduced models. Our research suggests that lithium's solvation free energy is
dominated by the free energetics of a charged hard sphere, whereas fluoride
exhibits significant quantum mechanical behavior that cannot be simply
described with a reduced model.