Anisotropic diffusion of nonspherical molecules in dense liquids: a molecular dynamics simulation of isolated ellipsoids in the sea of spheres

Abstract

Detailed molecular dynamics simulations of the rotational and the translational motions of Gay-Berne ellipsoids in a sea of Lennard-Jones spheres have been carried out. It is found that while the translational motion of an ellipsoid is isotropic at low density, it becomes increasingly anisotropic with density until the ratio of the parallel to the perpendicular diffusion coefficients becomes nearly equal to the value of the aspect ratio at high density. The latter is in agreement with the prediction of Navier-Stokes hydrodynamics with slip boundary condition. The product of the translational diffusion coefficient and the rotational correlation time also attains a hydrodynamic-like density independent behavior only at high density. The reorientational correlation function becomes nonexponential at high density and low temperature where it also develops a slow decay. The perpendicular component of the velocity time correlation function exhibits a clear double minimum, only at high density, which becomes more pronounced as the aspect ratio is increased.