Accessing the structural and thermodynamic properties of ultra-thin layers of C32 adsorbed on a SiO₂ surface

Medium-chain alkanes are important molecules with applications in biology and industry. Notably, their structural properties are scarcely understood. To assess structural and thermodynamic properties of dotriacontane (C32) molecules adsorbed on a SiO₂surface, we conducted all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. By analyzing potentials of mean force, order parameters and self-diffusion, we compared the stability and preferential orientation between ordered and disordered systems. Our data confirm the presence of one parallel layer of C32 followed by a mixture of disordered C32 segments exhibiting no thermodynamic preference. This semi-ordered structural model shed light to the interactions between C32 and a SiO₂surface.