Unusual heating effect of the elliptically polarized microwave electric field on sodium chloride solution: A molecular dynamics simulation

Our molecular dynamics simulation results show that the elliptically polarized microwave electric field would increase the heating efficiency of sodium chloride solution. The growth rate of the heating efficiency is positively correlated with the concentration of the sodium chloride solution and intensity of applied electric field. The rotation autocorrelation function results confirm that water molecules would do a more frequent rotational motion with the multidirectional polarization of elliptically polarized microwave electric field. The result of the more frequent rotational motion is consistent with that of the higher microwave energy absorption of energy analysis. The following analysis of hydrogen bond shows that the existence of ionic solutes would break the hydrogen bonds between water molecules and make it easier for water molecules to rotate with the applied electric field. These results indicate that elliptically polarized microwave electric field can indeed improve the heating efficiency of salt solution.