Molecular dynamics （MD） simulations are performed to study the structure and adsorption of ethanol/water mixture within carbon nanotubes （CNTs）. Inside the （6,6） and （10,10） CNTs, there are always almost full of ethanol molecules and hardly water molecules. Inside wider CNTs, there are some water molecules, while the ethanol mass fractions inside the CNTs are still much higher than the corresponding bulk values. A series of structural analysis for the molecules inside and outside the CNTs are performed, including the distributions of radial, axial, angular density, orientation, and the number of hydrogen bonds. The angular density distribution of the molecules in the first solvation shell outside the CNTs indicates that the methyl groups of ethanol molecules have the strongest interaction with the carbon wall, and are pinned to the centers of the hexagons of the CNTs. Based on the understanding of the microscopic mechanism of these phenomena, we propose that the CNTs prefer to contain ethanol rather than methanol.
In order to determine the structures of Si（111）-√7 √3-In surfaces and to understand their electronic properties, we construct six models of both hexagonal and rectangular types and perform first-principles calculations. Their scanning tunneling microscopic images and work functions are simulated and compared with experimental results. In this way, the hex-H3＇ and rect-T1 models are identified as the experimental configurations for the hexagonal and rectangular types, respectively. The structural evolution mechanism of the In/Si（lll） surface with indium coverage around 1.0 monolayer is discussed. The 4×1 and -√7× √3 phases are suggested to have two different types of evolution mechanisms, consistent with experimental results.
