Study on Enhancement of the Interfacial Water Absorption Process by an Electrostatic Field

The electrostatic fields (E-fields) come from a wide range of sources, and the polarization effect on charged ions has been widely used in gas-liquid separation systems. In terms of dehumidification, the effect of E-fields on the absorption process of water molecules on the solution surface is of interest. The authors applied uniform normal E-fields to an aqueous solution of lithium chloride through molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and investigated the effect of E-fields on the adsorption rate of concentrated lithium chloride during the absorption of water molecules on a microscopic scale, and explored the mechanism of accelerated adsorption by E-fields. The results showed that the E-fields accelerated the adsorption rate of lithium chloride on water molecules, and at the early stage of adsorption, a large number of water molecules appeared in the middle of the interfacial layer close to the gas phase, and the E-fields mainly weakened the hydrogen-bonded mesh structure of the water molecules and facilitated the entry of water molecules.