Study of distance dependence of hydrophobic force between two graphene-like walls and a signature of pressure induced structure formation in the confined water

We examine the separation distance dependence of the hydrophobic force by systematically varying the distance (d) between twowalls. The hydrophobic force exhibits a distance mediated crossover from a liquid-like to a gas-like behavior at around d similar to 12 angstrom for 1 atm pressure. The distance dependence can be fitted to a bi-exponential form, with the longer distance part displaying a correlation length of 20 angstrom. In addition, the crossover is found to be accompanied by a divergent-like growth of the local relative number fluctuation of the water molecules confined between the two surfaces. Furthermore, at a fixed separation (d = 20 angstrom), we observe a pressure induced structural modification of confined water at high pressure. The confined water is found to form an ordered structure at high pressure (10 000 atm) and room temperature, in agreement with the experimental study [G.Algara-Siller et al. Nature 519(7544), 443 (2015)]. Published by AIP Publishing.