A Monte Carlo study of water at an uncharged clay surface

Monte Carlo simulations have been used to study water confined between uncharged clay sheets. Low-energy sites for water at a talc surface were identified. The water molecules adsorbed onto these sites, which lie above the clay's hydroxyl group, are able to form strong hydrogen bonds with waters in the next hydration layer and so perturb the structure of this layer. No restructuring of the hydrogen bond network was apparent beyond this second layer.