How water and counterions diffuse into the hydrated montmorillonite

Molecular dynamics simulations have been performed to study the diffusive transport properties of water and counterions in 1-, 2- and 3-layer hydrated Wyoming-type montmorillonite (MMT). The considered counterions included in the clay are monovalent cations, such as Li+, Na+, K+, Rb+, Cs+, and divalent cations, such as Ca2+, Ni2+, Zn2+ and Pb2+. The diffusion simulation results of Li-, Na-, K-, Cs-MMT, based on NVE ensemble and SPC/E water model, compared well to available experimental quantities and previous simulations, which permit us to study the diffusion behaviour of heavy metal counterion including in the different hydrated montmorillonite. Our simulation results show that the diffusion coefficients of both water molecule and counterions increase versus the quantity of water content. At the same hydrated state, the diffusion of cations strongly depends on their size, weight and capacity of attracting water. Monovalent cations diffuse always much faster than divalent ones. Although the increasing of hydrate degree can raise the diffusion coefficient of divalent heavy cations, the activity of these heavy counterions is still very weak. The diffusion of cations in the interlayer space of clay is much weaker than that in bulk water. That means the presence of charged clay has great influence on the diffusion of cations, which change totally the diffusion behaviour of cations.

► The diffusion of cations strongly depends on their size, weight and capacity of attracting water.
► Monovalent cations diffuse always much faster than divalent ones.
► The presence of charged clay has great influence on the diffusion of cations.