Analysis of electron-transfer rate constant in condensed media with inclusion of inelastic tunneling and nuclear quantum effects

Abstract

We have developed a theoretical formulation for evaluating the nonadiabatic electron-transfer (ET) rate constant in condensed medium which takes into account both inelastic electron tunneling and nuclear quantum effects. The derived formula allows us to calculate the ET rate as a function of the free-energy gap between the ET donor and acceptor states using the information on the spectral density associated with environmental polarization fluctuation and the temporal correlation function of electronic tunneling matrix element. Model calculations have been performed illustratively.