Macro-Dipole-Constrained Learning of Atomic Charges for Accurate Electrostatic Potentials at Electrochemical Interfaces

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Authors: Jing Yang, Bingxin Li, Samuel Henrique Mattoso, Ahmed Abdelkawy, Mira Todorova, Jörg Neugebauer
Cited by: 0
References: 55

Abstract

Large thermal fluctuations of the liquid phase obscure the weak macroscopic electric field that drives electrochemical reactions, rendering the extraction of reliable interfacial charge distributions from ab initio molecular dynamics extremely challenging. We introduce SMILE (Scalar Macro-dipole Integrated LEarning) charge partition, a macro-dipole-constrained scheme that infers atomic charges using only the instantaneous atomic coordinates and the total dipole moment of the simulation cell-quantities routinely available from standard density functional theory calculations. SMILE preserves both the global electrostatic field and the local potential without invoking any explicit charge-partitioning scheme. Benchmarks on three representative electrochemical interfaces-nanoconfined water, Mg^{2+} dissolution in water, and a kinked Mg vicinal surface under anodic bias-show that SMILE eliminates the qualitative errors observed for unconstrained charge decompositions. The method is computationally inexpensive and data-efficient, opening the door to charge-aware machine-learning potentials capable of bias-controlled, nanosecond-scale simulations of realistic electrochemical systems.

Fields of Study & Subjects

Advanced Chemical Physics Studies Machine Learning in Materials Science Advanced Physical and Chemical Molecular Interactions

Publication details

Journal / source
Physical Review Letters
Volume
136
Issue
11
Pages
118001–118001
Publication date
17 February 2026
Language
EN