One-Photon Absorption Properties from a Hybrid Polarizable Density Embedding/Complex Polarization Propagator Approach for Polarizable Solutions.

We present a formulation of the polarizable density embedding (PDE) method in combination with the complex polarization propagator (CPP) method for the calculation of absorption spectra of molecules in solutions. The method is particularly useful for the calculation of near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectra. We compare the performance of PDE-CPP with the previously formulated polarizable embedding (PE)-CPP model for the calculation of the NEXAFS spectra of adenine, formamide, glycine, and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) in water at the carbon and nitrogen K-edges, as well as of formamide and glycine at the oxygen K-edge. In general, we find only minor differences between the performance of PDE and PE for the targeted parts of the spectra, except in the case of transitions involving Rydberg states, for which nonelectrostatic effects are found to be important.

Computational Approach for Studying Optical Properties of DNA Systems in Solution.

In this paper we present a study of the methodological aspects regarding calculations of optical properties for DNA systems in solution. Our computational approach will be built upon a fully polarizable QM/MM/Continuum model within a damped linear response theory framework. In this approach the environment is given a highly advanced description in terms of the electrostatic potential through the polarizable embedding model. Furthermore, bulk solvent effects are included in an efficient manner through a conductor-like screening model. With the aim of reducing the computational cost we develop a set of averaged partial charges and distributed isotropic dipole-dipole polarizabilities for DNA suitable for describing the classical region in ground-state and excited-state calculations. Calculations of the UV-spectrum of the 2-aminopurine optical probe embedded in a DNA double helical structure are presented. We show that inclusion of polarizabilities in the embedding potential stemming from the DNA double helix is of crucial importance, while the water cluster surrounding the DNA system is well represented using a continuum approach.

Theoretical Study of the Charge-Transfer State Separation within Marcus Theory: The C60-Anthracene Case Study.

We study, within Marcus theory, the possibility of the charge-transfer (CT) state splitting at organic interfaces and a subsequent transport of the free charge carriers to the electrodes. As a case study we analyze model anthracene-C60 interfaces. Kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) simulations on the cold CT state were performed at a range of applied electric fields, and with the fields applied at a range of angles to the interface to simulate the action of the electric field in a bulk heterojunction (BHJ) interface. The results show that the inclusion of polarization in our model increases CT state dissociation and charge collection. The effect of the electric field on CT state splitting and free charge carrier conduction is analyzed in detail with and without polarization. Also, depending on the relative orientation of the anthracene and C60 molecules at the interface, CT state splitting shows different behavior with respect to both applied field strength and applied field angle. The importance of the hot CT in helping the charge carrier dissociation is also analyzed in our scheme.

Effect of Polarization on the Mobility of C60: A Kinetic Monte Carlo Study.

We present a study of mobility field and temperature dependence for C60 with Kinetic Monte Carlo simulations. We propose a new scheme to take into account polarization effects in organic materials through atomic induced dipoles on nearby molecules. This leads to an energy correction for the single site energies and to an external reorganization happening after each hopping. The inclusion of polarization allows us to obtain a good agreement with experiments for both mobility field and temperature dependence.