Fig. 14.

Potential of mean force for water entering the plates as a function of their radial distance from the center of the hydrophobically confined region (x = y = 0 Å). Sampling was limited in the z-dimension to ± (d/2 − 3.6) which ensures only solvent accessible volume is considered. The PMF for d = 7.4Å (near the separation distance in which water can first enter the confined region) through d = 14.4Å (the largest separation distance sampled) are shown for water in the pure water, 1M NaCl, and 1M NaI solutions. All profiles are relative to the bulk region, which we take as the average from r = 17.0 − 18.0Å.