Effects of Configurational Fluctuation on Electronic Coupling for Charge Transfer Dynamics

Abstract

We advance a theory for the effects of bridge configurational fluctuations on the electronic coupling for electron transfer reactions in donor-bridge-acceptor systems. The theory of radiationless transitions was applied for activationless electron transfer, where the nuclear Franck–Condon constraints are minimized, with the initial vibronic state interacting directly with the final vibronic manifold, without the need for thermal activation. Invoking the assumption of energy-independent coupling, the time-dependent initial state population probability was analyzed in terms of a cumulant expansion. Two limiting situations were distinguished, i.e. the fast configurational fluctuation limit, where the electron transfer rate is given in terms of the configurational average of me squared electronic coupling, and the slow configurational fluctuation limit, where the dynamics is determined by a configurational averaging over a static distribution of electron transfer probability densities. The correlation times for configurational fluctuations of the electronic coupling will be obtained from the analysis of molecular dynamics, in conjunction with quantum mechanical calculations of the electronic coupling, to establish the appropriate limit for electron transfer dynamics.