Enhanced Sampling Path Integral Methods Using Neural Network Potential Energy Surfaces with Application to Diffusion in Hydrogen Hydrates

The high cost of ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulations to model complex physical and chemical systems limits its ability to address many key questions. However, new machine learning-based representations of complex potential energy surfaces have been introduced in recent years to circumvent computationally demanding AIMD simulations while retaining the same level of accuracy. As these machine learning methods gain in popularity over the next decade, it is important to address the appropriate way to develop and integrate them with well-established simulation methods. This paper details the parameterization and training, using accurate electronic structure calculations, of artificial neural network potentials (NNPs) to model the intermolecular interactions in a hydrogen clathrate hydrate, wherein hydrogen molecules are confined inside the cavities of the 3D crystalline framework of hydrogen-bonded water molecules. This new NNP is used in conjunction with new path-integral based enhanced sampling methods, for inclusion of nuclear quantum effects and promotion of free energy barrier crossing, in order to determine properties that are important for understanding the diffusion of hydrogen gas in the clathrate system. These simulations demonstrate the influence of cage occupancy on the free energy barriers that determine the diffusivity of hydrogen gas through the network of large cages.