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The relative radiolytic stability of dodecane functionalized with common energetic functional groups was explored with gamma irradiation and probed by various analytical techniques.

The photolytic stability of explosives and energetic functional groups is of importance for those who regularly handle or are exposed to explosives in typical environmental conditions. This study models the photolytic degradation of dodecane substituted with various energetic functional groups: azide, nitro, nitrate ester, and nitramine. For the studied molecules, it was found that excitons localize on the energetic functional group, no matter where they were initially formed, and thus, the predominant degradation pathway involves the degradation of the energetic functional group. The relative trends for both 4 and 8 eV excitation energies followed with what is expected from the relative stability of the energetic functional groups to thermal and sub-shock degradation. The one notable exception was the azide functional group; more work should be done to further understand the photolytic effects on the azide functional group.

Three-dimensional cage-shaped molecules formed from chainlike structures hold potential as unique optoelectronic materials and host compounds. Their optical, structural, and dynamical features are tunable by changes in shape and size. We perform a comparison of these properties for three sizes of strained conjugated [n.n.n]carbon nanocages composed of three paraphenylene chains (bridges) of length n = 4, 5, or 6. The exciton intramolecular redistribution occurring during nonradiative relaxation has been explored using nonadiabatic excited-state molecular dynamics. Our results provide atomistic insight into the conformational features associated with the observed red- and blue-shift trends in the absorption and fluorescence spectra, respectively, with increasing nanocage size. Their internal conversion processes involve intramolecular energy transfer that leads to exciton self-trapping on a few phenylene units at the center of a single bridge. The dependence of these dynamical features on the size of the nanocage can be used to tune their host-guest chemical properties and their use for organic electronics and catenane-like applications.

We present a versatile new code released for open community use, the nonadiabatic excited state molecular dynamics (NEXMD) package. This software aims to simulate nonadiabatic excited state molecular dynamics using several semiempirical Hamiltonian models. To model such dynamics of a molecular system, the NEXMD uses the fewest-switches surface hopping algorithm, where the probability of transition from one state to another depends on the strength of the derivative nonadiabatic coupling. In addition, there are a number of algorithmic improvements such as empirical decoherence corrections and tracking trivial crossings of electronic states. While the primary intent behind the NEXMD was to simulate nonadiabatic molecular dynamics, the code can also perform geometry optimizations, adiabatic excited state dynamics, and single-point calculations all in vacuum or in a simulated solvent. In this report, first, we lay out the basic theoretical framework underlying the code. Then we present the code's structure and workflow. To demonstrate the functionality of NEXMD in detail, we analyze the photoexcited dynamics of a polyphenylene ethynylene dendrimer (PPE, C30H18) in vacuum and in a continuum solvent. Furthermore, the PPE molecule example serves to highlight the utility of the getexcited.py helper script to form a streamlined workflow. This script, provided with the package, can both set up NEXMD calculations and analyze the results, including, but not limited to, collecting populations, generating an average optical spectrum, and restarting unfinished calculations.

Nonadiabatic Molecular Dynamics (NAMD) of excited states has been widely used in the simulation of photoinduced phenomena. However, the inability to treat bond breaking and forming processes with single-reference electronic structure methods limits their application in photochemistry for extended molecular systems. In this work, the extension of excited-state NAMD for open-shell systems is developed and implemented in the NEXMD software. We present the spin-unrestricted CIS and TD-SCF formalism for the ground and excited states, analytical derivatives, and nonadiabatic derivative couplings for the respective potential energy surfaces. This methodology is employed to study the photochemical reaction of three model molecules. The results demonstrate the advantage of the open-shell approach in modeling photochemical reactions, especially involving bond breaking processes. We find that the open-shell method lowers the reaction barrier at the bond-breaking limits resulting in larger calculated photochemical quantum yields compared to the respective closed-shell results. We also address problems related to spin contamination in the open-shell method, especially when molecular geometries are far from equilibrium.

Spin crossover complexes are known to undergo bond length, volume, and enthalpy changes during spin transition. In an explosive spin crossover complex, these changes could affect the mechanical and...

We examine the redistribution of energy between electronic and vibrational degrees of freedom that takes place between a π-conjugated oligomer, a phenylene-butadiynylene, and two identical boron-dipyrromethene (bodipy) end-caps using femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy, single-molecule spectroscopy, and nonadiabatic excited-state molecular dynamics (NEXMD) modeling techniques. The molecular structure represents an excitonic seesaw in that the excitation energy on the oligomer backbone can migrate to either one end-cap or the other, but not to both. The NEXMD simulations closely reproduce the characteristic time scale for redistribution of electronic and vibrational energy of 2.2 ps and uncover the vibrational modes contributing to the intramolecular relaxation. The calculations indicate that the dihedral angle between the bodipy dye and the oligomer change upon excitation of the oligomer. Single-molecule experiments reveal a difference in photoluminescence lifetime of the bodipy dyes depending on whether they are excited by direct absorption or by redistribution of energy from the backbone. This difference in lifetime may be attributed to the difference in dihedral angle. The simulations also suggest that a strong coupling can occur between the two end-caps, giving rise to a reversible shuttling of excitation energy between them. Strong coupling should lead to a pronounced loss in polarization memory of the fluorescence since the oligomer backbone tends to be slightly distorted and the two bodipy transition dipoles have different orientations. A sensitive single-molecule technique is presented to test for such coupling. However, although redistribution of electronic and vibrational energy between the end-caps can occur, it appears to be unidirectional and irreversible, suggesting that an additional localization mechanism is at play which is, as yet, not fully accounted for in the simulations.

We explore the diverse origins of unpolarized absorption and emission of molecular polygons consisting of π-conjugated oligomer chains held in a bent geometry by strain controlled at the vertex units. For this purpose, we make use of atomistic nonadiabatic excited-state molecular dynamics simulations of a bichromophore molecular polygon (digon) with bent chromophore chains. Both structural and photoexcited dynamics were found to affect polarization features. Bending strain induces exciton localization on individual chromophore units of the conjugated chains. The latter display different transition dipole moment orientations, a feature not present in the linear oligomer counterparts. In addition, bending makes exciton localization very sensitive to molecular distortions induced by thermal fluctuations. The excited-state dynamics reveals an ultrafast intramolecular energy redistribution that spreads the exciton equally among spatially separated chromophore fragments within the molecular system. As a result, digons become virtually unpolarized absorbers and emitters, in agreement with recent experimental studies on the single-molecule level. Fil: Ondarse Alvarez, Dianelys. Fil: Nelson, Tammie. Fil: Lupton, John M.. Fil: Tretiak, Sergei. Fil: Fernandez-Alberti, Sebastian.

Direct atomistic simulation of nonadiabatic molecular dynamics is a challenging goal that allows important insights into fundamental physical phenomena. A variety of frameworks, ranging from fully quantum treatment of nuclei to semiclassical and mixed quantum-classical approaches, were developed. These algorithms are then coupled to specific electronic structure techniques. Such diversity and lack of standardized implementation make it difficult to compare the performance of different methodologies when treating realistic systems. Here, we compare three popular methods for large chromophores: Ehrenfest, surface hopping, and multiconfigurational Ehrenfest with ab initio multiple cloning (MCE-AIMC). These approaches are implemented in the NEXMD software, which features a common computational chemistry model. The resulting comparisons reveal the method performance for population relaxation and coherent vibronic dynamics. Finally, we study the numerical convergence of MCE-AIMC algorithms by considering the number of trajectories, cloning thresholds, and Gaussian wavepacket width. Our results provide helpful reference data for selecting an optimal methodology for simulating excited-state molecular dynamics.

Chemical analysis via nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy using permanent magnets, rather than superconducting magnets, is a rapidly developing field. Performing the NMR measurement in the strong heteronuclear J-coupling regime has shown considerable promise for the chemical analysis of small molecules. Typically, the condition for the strong heteronuclear J-coupling regime is satisfied at &micro, T magnetic field strengths and enables high resolution J-coupled spectra (JCS) to be acquired. However, the JCS response to systematic chemical structural changes has largely not been investigated. In this report, we investigate the JCS of C6H6&minus, xFx (x = 0, 1, 2, &hellip, 6) fluorobenzene compounds via simultaneous excitation and detection of 19F and 1H at 51.5 &micro, T. The results demonstrate that JCS are quantitative, and the common NMR observables, including Larmor frequency, heteronuclear and homonuclear J-couplings, relative signs of the J-coupling, chemical shift, and relaxation, are all measurable and are differentiable between molecules at low magnetic fields. The results, corroborated by ab initio calculations, provide new insights into the impact of chemical structure and their corresponding spin systems on JCS. In several instances, the JCS provided more chemical information than traditional high field NMR, demonstrating that JCS can be used for robust chemical analysis.

Optically active molecular materials, such as organic conjugated polymers and biological systems, are characterized by strong coupling between electronic and vibrational degrees of freedom. Typically, simulations must go beyond the Born-Oppenheimer approximation to account for non-adiabatic coupling between excited states. Indeed, non-adiabatic dynamics is commonly associated with exciton dynamics and photophysics involving charge and energy transfer, as well as exciton dissociation and charge recombination. Understanding the photoinduced dynamics in such materials is vital to providing an accurate description of exciton formation, evolution, and decay. This interdisciplinary field has matured significantly over the past decades. Formulation of new theoretical frameworks, development of more efficient and accurate computational algorithms, and evolution of high-performance computer hardware has extended these simulations to very large molecular systems with hundreds of atoms, including numerous studies of organic semiconductors and biomolecules. In this Review, we will describe recent theoretical advances including treatment of electronic decoherence in surface-hopping methods, the role of solvent effects, trivial unavoided crossings, analysis of data based on transition densities, and efficient computational implementations of these numerical methods. We also emphasize newly developed semiclassical approaches, based on the Gaussian approximation, which retain phase and width information to account for significant decoherence and interference effects while maintaining the high efficiency of surface-hopping approaches. The above developments have been employed to successfully describe photophysics in a variety of molecular materials.

Isomerization of molecular systems is ubiquitous in chemistry and biology, and is also important for many applications. Atomistic simulations can help determine the tunable parameters influencing this process. In this paper, we use the Nonadiabatic EXcited state Molecular Dynamics (NEXMD) software to study the photoisomerization of a representative molecule, 4-styrylquinoline (SQ). trans-SQ transforms into dihydrobenzophenanthridine (DHBP) upon irradiation with laser light, with the cis conformer acting as an intermediate. We study how varying three different external stimuli (i.e., apolar versus polar solvent, low versus high photoexcitation energy, and vacuum versus a constant temperature thermostat) affects the trans-to- cis photoisomerization of SQ. Our results show that polarization effects due to implicit solvation and the thermostat play a crucial role in the isomerization process, whereas photoexcitation energy plays a lesser role on the outcome and efficiency. We also show that NEXMD captures the correct energy profile between the ground and first singlet excited state, showing that there are two distinct reaction pathways to the final stable product that vary by the number of photons absorbed, in agreement with experiment. Ultimately, NEXMD proves to be an effective tool for investigating excited state single molecule dynamics subject to various environments and initial conditions.

Hot-carrier generation from surface plasmon decay has found applications in many branches of physics, chemistry, materials science, and energy science. Recent reports demonstrated that the hot carriers generated from plasmon decay in nanoparticles can transfer to attached molecules and drive photochemistry which was thought impossible previously. In this work, we have computationally explored the atomic-scale mechanism of a plasmonic hot-carrier-mediated chemical process, H2 dissociation. Numerical simulations demonstrate that, after photoexcitation, hot carriers transfer to the antibonding state of the H2 molecule from the nanoparticle, resulting in a repulsive-potential-energy surface and H2 dissociation. This process occurs when the molecule is close to a single nanoparticle. However, if the molecule is located at the center of the gap in a plasmonic dimer, dissociation is suppressed due to sequential charge transfer, which efficiently reduces occupation in the antibonding state and, in turn, reduces d...

Nonadiabatic excited-state molecular dynamics (NEXMD) has been used to study photodecomposition in a class of recently synthesized bicyclic conjugated energetic materials (CEMs) composed of fused tetrazole and tetrazine derivatives with increasing oxygen substitutions. Modification by oxygen functionalization has already been demonstrated to increase the two-photon absorption intensity in the target CEMs while simultaneously improving oxygen balance. Photodecomposition mechanisms in materials that undergo nonlinear absorption could be used to achieve controlled, direct optical initiation. Here, we use NEXMD simulations to model the nonradiative relaxation and photodecomposition in CEMs following photoexcitation by a simulated Nd:YAG laser pulse. Excess electronic energy is quickly converted into vibrational energy on a sub-100 fs time scale resulting in bond dissociation. We find that, for the studied tetrazine derivatives, the bicyclic framework is an important structural feature that enhances the photochemical quantum yield and the high atomic oxygen content increases the relaxation lifetime and opens additional photodissociation pathways targeting the oxygen-substituted sites. The presented analysis scheme based on bond orders in the swarm of NEXMD trajectories is a useful tool for determining photochemical reactions.

Coherence, signifying concurrent electron-vibrational dynamics in complex natural and man-made systems, is currently a subject of intense study. Understanding this phenomenon is important when designing carrier transport in optoelectronic materials. Here, excited state dynamics simulations reveal a ubiquitous pattern in the evolution of photoexcitations for a broad range of molecular systems. Symmetries of the wavefunctions define a specific form of the non-adiabatic coupling that drives quantum transitions between excited states, leading to a collective asymmetric vibrational excitation coupled to the electronic system. This promotes periodic oscillatory evolution of the wavefunctions, preserving specific phase and amplitude relations across the ensemble of trajectories. The simple model proposed here explains the appearance of coherent exciton-vibrational dynamics due to non-adiabatic transitions, which is universal across multiple molecular systems. The observed relationships between electronic wavefunctions and the resulting functionalities allows us to understand, and potentially manipulate, excited state dynamics and energy transfer in molecular materials., Interference patterns in photoexcited dynamics of many materials have historically been attributed to electronic and vibrational coherences. Here, the authors demonstrate a simple model based on wavefunction symmetry suggesting these coherences originate from non-adiabatic transitions for optically active molecules.

Simulation of electronic dynamics in realistically large molecular systems is a demanding task that has not yet achieved the same level of quantitative prediction already realized for its static counterpart. This is particularly true for processes occurring beyond the Born-Oppenheimer regime. Non-adiabatic molecular dynamics (NAMD) simulations suffer from two convoluted sources of error: numerical algorithms for dynamics and electronic structure calculations. While the former has gained increasing attention, particularly addressing the validity of ad hoc methodologies, the effect of the latter remains relatively unexplored. Indeed, the required accuracy for electronic structure calculations to reach quantitative agreement with experiment in dynamics may be even more strict than that required for static simulations. Here, we address this issue by modeling the electronic energy transfer in a donor-acceptor-donor (D-A-D) molecular light harvesting system using fewest switches surface hopping NAMD simulations. In the studied system, time-resolved experimental measurements deliver complete information on spectra and energy transfer rates. Subsequent modeling shows that the calculated electronic transition energies are "sufficiently good" to reproduce experimental spectra but produce over an order of magnitude error in simulated dynamical rates. We further perform simulations using artificially shifted energy gaps to investigate the complex relationship between transition energies and modeled dynamics to understand factors affecting non-radiative relaxation and energy transfer rates.

A new density functional theory, average atom based model for the electrical conductivity of dense plasmas with a mixture of ion species, containing no adjustable parameters, is presented. The model takes the temperature, mass density and relative abundances of the species as input. It takes into account partial ionization, ionic structure, and core-valence orthogonality, and uses quantum mechanical calculations of cross sections. Comparison to an existing high fidelity but computationally expensive method reveals good agreement. The new model is computationally efficient and can reach high temperatures. A new mixing rule is also presented that gives reasonably accurate conductivities for high temperature plasma mixtures.

Solvation can be modeled implicitly by embedding the solute in a dielectric cavity. This approach models the induced surface charge density at the solute-solvent boundary, giving rise to extra Coulombic interactions. Herein, the Nonadiabatic EXcited-state Molecular Dynamics (NEXMD) software was used to model the photoexcited nonradiative relaxation dynamics in a set of substituted donor-acceptor oligo(p-phenylenevinylene) (PPVO) derivatives in the presence of implicit solvent. Several properties of interest including optical spectra, excited state lifetimes, exciton localization, excited state dipole moments, and structural relaxation are calculated to elucidate dependence of functionalization and solvent polarity on photoinduced nonadiabatic dynamics. Results show that solvation generally affects all these properties, where the magnitude of these effects vary from one system to another depending on donor-acceptor substituents and molecular polarizability. We conclude that implicit solvation can be directly incorporated into nonadiabatic simulations within the NEXMD framework with little computational overhead and that it qualitatively reproduces solvent-dependent effects observed in solution-based spectroscopic experiments. Fil: Sifain, Andrew E.. University of Southern California; Estados Unidos Fil: Bjorgaard, Josiah A.. Los Alamos National Laboratory; Estados Unidos Fil: Nelson, Tammie R.. Los Alamos National Laboratory; Estados Unidos Fil: Nebgen, Benjamin T.. Los Alamos National Laboratory; Estados Unidos Fil: White, Alexander J.. Los Alamos National Laboratory; Estados Unidos Fil: Gifford, Brendan J.. Los Alamos National Laboratory; Estados Unidos Fil: Gao, David W.. Los Alamos National Laboratory; Estados Unidos Fil: Prezhdo, Oleg V.. University of Southern California; Estados Unidos Fil: Fernández Alberti, Sebastián. Universidad Nacional de Quilmes. Departamento de Ciencia y Tecnología. Area Química; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: Roitberg, Adrián. University of Florida; Estados Unidos Fil: Tretiak, Sergei. Los Alamos National Laboratory; Estados Unidos

An efficient method of treating solvent effects in excited state molecular dynamics (ESMD) is implemented and tested by exploring the solvatochromic effects in substituted p -phenylene vinylene oligomers. A continuum solvent model is used which has very little computational overhead. This allows simulations of ESMD with solvent effects on the scale of hundreds of picoseconds for systems of up to hundreds of atoms. At these time scales, solvatochromic shifts in fluoresence spectra can be described. Solvatochromic shifts in absorption and fluorescence spectra from ESMD are compared with time-dependent density functional theory calculations and experiments.

Nonadiabatic excited-state molecular dynamics (NA-ESMD) simulations have been performed in order to study the time-dependent exciton localization during energy transfer between two chromophore units of the weakly coupled anthracene dimer dithia-anthracenophane (DTA). Simulations are done at both low temperature (10 K) and room temperature (300 K). The initial photoexcitation creates an exciton which is primarily localized on a single monomer unit. Subsequently, the exciton experiences an ultrafast energy transfer becoming localized on either one monomer unit or the other, whereas delocalization between both monomers never occurs. In half of the trajectories, the electronic transition density becomes completely localized on the same monomer as the initial excitation, while in the other half, it becomes completely localized on the opposite monomer. In this article, we present an analysis of the energy transfer dynamics and the effect of thermally induced geometry distortions on the exciton localization. Finally, simulated fluorescence anisotropy decay curves for both DTA and the monomer unit dimethyl anthracene (DMA) are compared. Our analysis reveals that changes in the transition density localization caused by energy transfer between two monomers in DTA is not the only source of depolarization and exciton relaxation within a single DTA monomer unit can also cause reorientation of the transition dipole. Fil: Alfonso Hernandez, Laura. Universidad Nacional de Quilmes. Departamento de Ciencia y Tecnología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: Nelson, Tammie. Los Alamos National Laboratory; Estados Unidos Fil: Tretiak, Sergei. Los Alamos National Laboratory; Estados Unidos Fil: Fernández Alberti, Sebastián. Universidad Nacional de Quilmes. Departamento de Ciencia y Tecnología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina

The efficiency of materials developed for solar energy and technological applications depends on the interplay between molecular architecture and light-induced electronic energy redistribution. The spatial localization of electronic excitations is very sensitive to molecular distortions. Vibrational nuclear motions can couple to electronic dynamics driving changes in localization. The electronic energy transfer among multiple chromophores arises from several distinct mechanisms that can give rise to experimentally measured signals. Atomistic simulations of coupled electron-vibrational dynamics can help uncover the nuclear motions directing energy flow. Through careful analysis of excited state wave function evolution and a useful fragmenting of multichromophore systems, through-bond transport and exciton hopping (through-space) mechanisms can be distinguished. Such insights are crucial in the interpretation of fluorescence anisotropy measurements and can aid materials design. This Perspective highlights the interconnected vibrational and electronic motions at the foundation of nonadiabatic dynamics where nuclear motions, including torsional rotations and bond vibrations, drive electronic transitions. Fil: Nelson, Tammie. Los Alamos National High Magnetic Field Laboratory; Estados Unidos Fil: Fernández Alberti, Sebastián. Universidad Nacional de Quilmes; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: Roitberg, Adrián. University of Florida; Estados Unidos Fil: Tretiak, Sergei. Los Alamos National High Magnetic Field Laboratory; Estados Unidos

In the last decade, recent synthetic advances have launched carbon-based π-conjugated hoops to the forefront of theoretical and experimental nvestigation not only for their potential use as bottom-up templates for carbon nanotube (CNT) growth, but also for the interesting excitoniceffects arising from the cyclic geometry, unique pi-system orientation, and unusual electronic interactions and couplings. In particular, cyclic materials based on pyrene, a common component in organic electronics, are popular candidates for the future design of pi-conjugated nanorings foroptoelectronic applications. Understanding the photophysical response in cyclic oligopyrenes can be achieved using Non-Adiabatic Excited State molecular Dynamics (NA-ESMD). Through NA-ESMD modeling, we reveal details of the nonradiative relaxation processes in the circular pyrenetetramer [4]cyclo-2,7-pyrenylene ([4]CPY) where we find that the strong non-adiabatic coupling combined with the dense manifold of excited states creates an internal conversion mechanism dominated by ultrafast sequential quantum transitions. However, we observe two long-lived electronic excited states that introduce a phonon bottleneck in the electronic relaxation process. In fact, the timescale for the electronic relaxation is almost exclusively dominated by the lifetimes of the long-lived states. We find that the states associated with the phonon bottleneck are separatedfrom lower energy states by large energy gaps and are characterized by localization on a single pyrene unit resulting in a spatial mismatch with strongly delocalized neighboring states. Fil: Franklin Mergarejo, Ricardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Quilmes; Argentina Fil: Nelson, Tammie. Los Alamos National Laboratory; Estados Unidos Fil: Tretiak, Sergei. Los Alamos National Laboratory; Estados Unidos Fil: Fernández Alberti, Sebastián. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Quilmes; Argentina

Using analytical excited-state gradients, vibrational normal modes have been calculated at the minimum of the electronic excited-state potential energy surfaces for a set of extended conjugated molecules with different coupling between them. Molecular model systems composed of units of polyphenylene ethynylene (PPE), polyphenylenevinylene (PPV), and naphthacene/pentacene (NP) have been considered. In all cases except the NP model, the influence of the nonadiabatic coupling on the excited-state equilibrium normal modes is revealed as a unique highest frequency adiabatic vibrational mode that overlaps with the coupling vector. This feature is removed by using a locally diabatic representation in which the effect of NA interaction is removed. Comparison of the original adiabatic modes with a set of vibrational modes computed in the locally diabatic representation demonstrates that the effect of nonadiabaticity is confined to only a few modes. This suggests that the nonadiabatic character of a molecular system may be detected spectroscopically by identifying these unique state-specific high frequency vibrational modes. Fil: Soler Bastida, Miguel Ángel. Universidad Nacional de Quilmes; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: Nelson, Tammie. Los Alamos National High Magnetic Field Laboratory; Estados Unidos Fil: Roitberg, Adrián. University of Florida. Departament of Chemistry; Estados Unidos Fil: Tretiak, Sergei. Los Alamos National High Magnetic Field Laboratory; Estados Unidos Fil: Fernández Alberti, Sebastián. Universidad Nacional de Quilmes; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina

To design functional photoactive materials for a variety of technological applications, researchers need to understand their electronic properties in detail and have ways to control their photoinduced pathways. When excited by photons of light, organic conjugated materials (OCMs) show dynamics that are often characterized by large nonadiabatic (NA) couplings between multiple excited states through a breakdown of the Born-Oppenheimer (BO) approximation. Following photoexcitation, various nonradiative intraband relaxation pathways can lead to a number of complex processes. Therefore, computational simulation of nonadiabatic molecular dynamics is an indispensable tool for understanding complex photoinduced processes such as internal conversion, energy transfer, charge separation, and spatial localization of excitons. Over the years, we have developed a nonadiabatic excited-state molecular dynamics (NA-ESMD) framework that efficiently and accurately describes photoinduced phenomena in extended conjugated molecular systems. We use the fewest-switches surface hopping (FSSH) algorithm to treat quantum transitions among multiple adiabatic excited state potential energy surfaces (PESs). Extended molecular systems often contain hundreds of atoms and involve large densities of excited states that participate in the photoinduced dynamics. We can achieve an accurate description of the multiple excited states using the configuration interaction single (CIS) formalism with a semiempirical model Hamiltonian. Analytical techniques allow the trajectory to be propagated "on the fly" using the complete set of NA coupling terms and remove computational bottlenecks in the evaluation of excited-state gradients and NA couplings. Furthermore, the use of state-specific gradients for propagation of nuclei on the native excited-state PES eliminates the need for simplifications such as the classical path approximation (CPA), which only uses ground-state gradients. Thus, the NA-ESMD methodology offers a computationally tractable route for simulating hundreds of atoms on ~10 ps time scales where multiple coupled excited states are involved. In this Account, we review recent developments in the NA-ESMD modeling of photoinduced dynamics in extended conjugated molecules involving multiple coupled electronic states. We have successfully applied the outlined NA-ESMD framework to study ultrafast conformational planarization in polyfluorenes where the rate of torsional relaxation can be controlled based on the initial excitation. With the addition of the state reassignment algorithm to identify instances of unavoided crossings between noninteracting PESs, NA-ESMD can now be used to study systems in which these so-called trivial unavoided crossings are expected to predominate. We employ this technique to analyze the energy transfer between poly(phenylene vinylene) (PPV) segments where conformational fluctuations give rise to numerous instances of unavoided crossings leading to multiple pathways and complex energy transfer dynamics that cannot be described using a simple Förster model. In addition, we have investigated the mechanism of ultrafast unidirectional energy transfer in dendrimers composed of poly(phenylene ethynylene) (PPE) chromophores and have demonstrated that differential nuclear motion favors downhill energy transfer in dendrimers. The use of native excited-state gradients allows us to observe this feature.

The interchromophoric energy-transfer pathways between weakly coupled units in a π-conjugated phenylene-ethynylene macrocycle and its half-ring analogue have been investigated using the nonadiabatic excited-state molecular dynamics approach. To track the flow of electronic transition density between macrocycle units, we formulate a transition density flux analysis adapted from the statistical minimum flow method previously developed to investigate vibrational energy flow. Following photoexcitation, transition density is primarily delocalized on two chromophore units and the system undergoes ultrafast energy transfer, creating a localized excited state on a single unit. In the macrocycle, distinct chromophore units donate transition density to a single acceptor unit but do not interchange transition density among each other. We find that energy transfer in the macrocycle is slower than in the corresponding half ring because of the presence of multiple interfering energy-transfer pathways. Simulation results are validated by modeling the fluorescence anisotropy decay.

The simulation of nonadiabatic dynamics in extended molecular systems involving hundreds of atoms and large densities of states is particularly challenging. Nonadiabatic coupling terms (NACTs) represent a significant numerical bottleneck in surface hopping approaches. Rather than using unreliable NACT cutting schemes, here we develop “on-the-fly” state limiting methods to eliminate states that are no longer essential for the non-radiative relaxation dynamics as a trajectory proceeds. We propose a state number criteria and an energy-based state limit. The latter is more physically relevant by requiring a user-imposed energy threshold. For this purpose, we introduce a local kinetic energy gauge by summing contributions from atoms within the spatial localization of the electronic wavefunction to define the energy available for upward hops. The proposed state limiting schemes are implemented within the nonadiabatic excited-state molecular dynamics framework to simulate photoinduced relaxation in poly-phenylene vinylene (PPV) and branched poly-phenylene ethynylene (PPE) oligomers for benchmark evaluation. Fil: Nelson, Tammie. Los Alamos National Laboratory; Estados Unidos Fil: Naumov, Artem. Skolkovo Institute Of Science And Technology; Rusia Fil: Fernández Alberti, Sebastián. Universidad Nacional de Quilmes; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: Tretiak, Sergei. Los Alamos National Laboratory; Estados Unidos

When the interaction between a molecular system and confined light modes in an optical or plasmonic cavity is strong enough to overcome the dissipative process, hybrid light-matter states (polaritons) become the fundamental excitations in the system. The mixing between the light and matter characters modifies the photophysical and photochemical properties. Especially, it was reported that these polaritons can be employed to control photochemical reactions, charge and energy transfer, and other processes. In addition, according to recent studies, vibrational strong coupling can be employed to resonantly enhance the thermally-activated chemical reactions. In this work, a theoretical model and an efficient numerical method for studying the dynamics of molecules strongly interacting with quantum light are developed based on non-adiabatic excited-state molecular dynamics. The methodology was employed to study the \textit{cis-trans} photoisomerization of a realistic molecule in a cavity. Numerical simulations demonstrate that the photochemical reactions can be controlled by tuning the properties of the cavity. In the calculated example, the isomerization is suppressed when polaritonic states develop a local minimum on the lower polaritonic state. Moreover, the observed reduction of isomerization is tunable via the photon energy and light-molecule coupling strength. But the fluctuation in transition dipole screens the effect of light-matter, which makes it harder to tune the photochemical properties via the coupling strength. These insights suggest quantum control of photochemical reactions is possible by specially designed photonic or plasmonic cavities.

A previously developed algorithm to identify potential energy surface crossings involving interacting or noninteracting states during nonadiabatic excited-state molecular dynamics simulations, allows the diabatic pathway to be followed through the crossing region so that there is no experienced change in the states identity. In this Letter, we investigate the transition from interacting/delocalized states to noninteracting/localized states in oligomers of poly-phenylene vinylene separated by varying distances. We demonstrate that the appearance of trivial unavoided crossings during nonadiabatic dynamics leads to artifacts in the state population analysis. Consequently, changes in the localization of the electronic transition density must be followed instead.

Time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) was used to investigate the relationship between molecular structure and the one- and two-photon absorption (OPA and TPA, respectively) properties of novel and recently synthesized conjugated energetic molecules (CEMs). The molecular structures of CEMs can be strategically altered to influence the heat of formation and oxygen balance, two factors that can contribute to the sensitivity and strength of an explosive material. OPA and TPA are sensitive to changes in molecular structure as well, influencing the optical range of excitation. We found calculated vertical excitation energies to be in good agreement with experiment for most molecules. Peak TPA intensities were found to be significant and on the order of 10(2) GM. Natural transition orbitals for essential electronic states defining TPA peaks of relatively large intensity were used to examine the character of relevant transitions. Modification of molecular substituents, such as additional oxygen or other functional groups, produces significant changes in electronic structure, OPA, and TPA and improves oxygen balance. The results show that certain molecules are apt to undergo nonlinear absorption, opening the possibility for controlled, direct optical initiation of CEMs through photochemical pathways.

Nitromethane (NM), a high explosive (HE) with low sensitivity, is known to undergo photolysis upon ultraviolet (UV) irradiation. The optical transparency, homogeneity, and extensive study of NM make it an ideal system for studying photodissociation mechanisms in conventional HE materials. The photochemical processes involved in the decomposition of NM could be applied to the future design of controllable photoactive HE materials. In this study, the photodecomposition of NM from the nπ* state excited at 266 nm is being investigated on the femtosecond time scale. UV femtosecond transient absorption (TA) spectroscopy and excited state femtosecond stimulated Raman spectroscopy (FSRS) are combined with nonadiabatic excited state molecular dynamics (NA-ESMD) simulations to provide a unified picture of NM photodecomposition. The FSRS spectrum of the photoproduct exhibits peaks in the NO2 region and slightly shifted C-N vibrational peaks pointing to methyl nitrite formation as the dominant photoproduct. A total photolysis quantum yield of 0.27 and an nπ* state lifetime of ∼20 fs were predicted from NA-ESMD simulations. Predicted time scales revealed that NO2 dissociation occurs in 81 ± 4 fs and methyl nitrite formation is much slower having a time scale of 452 ± 9 fs corresponding to the excited state absorption feature with a decay of 480 ± 17 fs observed in the TA spectrum. Although simulations predict C-N bond cleavage as the primary photochemical process, the relative time scales are consistent with isomerization occurring via NO2 dissociation and subsequent rebinding of the methyl radical and nitrogen dioxide.

A molecule can alter shape as it absorbs a photon. It is now shown that quantum effects can play an important role in this change leading to conformation rates hundreds of times faster than previously expected.

Nonadiabatic dynamics generally defines the entire evolution of electronic excitations in optically active molecular materials. It is commonly associated with a number of fundamental and complex processes such as intraband relaxation, energy transfer, and light harvesting influenced by the spatial evolution of excitations and transformation of photoexcitation energy into electrical energy via charge separation (e.g., charge injection at interfaces). To treat ultrafast excited-state dynamics and exciton/charge transport we have developed a nonadiabatic excited-state molecular dynamics (NA-ESMD) framework incorporating quantum transitions. Our calculations rely on the use of the Collective Electronic Oscillator (CEO) package accounting for many-body effects and actual potential energy surfaces of the excited states combined with Tully's fewest switches algorithm for surface hopping for probing nonadiabatic processes. This method is applied to model the photoinduced dynamics of distyrylbenzene (a small oligomer of polyphenylene vinylene, PPV). Our analysis shows intricate details of photoinduced vibronic relaxation and identifies specific slow and fast nuclear motions that are strongly coupled to the electronic degrees of freedom, namely, torsion and bond length alternation, respectively. Nonadiabatic relaxation of the highly excited mA(g) state is predicted to occur on a femtosecond time scale at room temperature and on a picosecond time scale at low temperature.

We report molecular dynamics (MD) simulation of energy exchange between single-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and two aprotic solvents, acetonitrile and cyclohexane. Following our earlier study of hydrated CNTs, we find that the time scales and molecular mechanisms of the energy transfer are largely independent of the nature of the surrounding medium, and therefore, should hold for other media including polymer matrices and DNA. The vibrational energy exchange between CNT and solvents exhibits two time-scales. Over half of the energy is transferred in less than one picosecond, indicating that the dominant exchange mechanism is inertial relaxation. It occurs by collisions of solvent molecules with CNT walls, facilitated by the short-range Lennard-Jones interaction. Additional several picoseconds are required for the remainder of the vibrational energy exchange, corresponding to the diffusive relaxation mechanism and involving collective molecular motions. The faster stage of the CNT-solvent energy exchange occurs on the same time-scale, and therefore, competes with the vibrational energy relaxation inside CNTs. The energy exchange time-scales are significantly influenced by the arrangement of solvent molecules inside CNTs. Generally, the effects of confinement on the dynamics can be rationalized by analysis of the solvent structure. For the same CNT diameter, the extent of the confinement effect strongly depends on the size of the solvent molecules. Icelike properties in water seen in small CNTs disappear in CNTs with intermediate diameters. In acetonitrile and cyclohexane, medium size CNTs still show strong confinement effects. Rotational motions of acetonitrile molecules are inhibited, and the cyclohexane density is dramatically decreased. The disbalance between the local temperatures of the inside and outside regions of the solvent equilibrates through a tube-mediated interaction, rather than by a direct coupling between the two solvent subsystems. In all cases, the CNT-solvent energy transfer is mediated by slow motions in the frequency range of CNT radial breathing modes.

We report an ab initio density functional theory study of the interaction of four nucleobases, cytosine, thymine, adenine, and guanine, with a novel graphene nanopore device for detecting the base sequence of a single-stranded nucleic acid (ssDNA or RNA). The nucleobases were inserted into a pore in a graphene nanoribbon, and the electrical current and conductance spectra were calculated as functions of voltage applied across the nanoribbon. The conductance spectra and charge densities were analyzed in the presence of each nucleobase in the graphene nanopore. The results indicate that due to significant differences in the conductance spectra the proposed device has adequate sensitivity to discriminate between different nucleotides. Moreover, we show that the nucleotide conductance spectrum is affected little by its orientation inside the graphene nanopore. The proposed technique may be extremely useful for real applications in developing ultrafast, low-cost DNA sequencing methods.

Pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN), a high explosive, initiates with traditional shock and thermal mechanisms. In this study, the tetrazine-substituted derivative of PETN, pentaerythritol trinitrate chlorotetrazine (PetrinTzCl), is being investigated for a photochemical initiation mechanism that could allow control over the chemistry contributing to decomposition leading to initiation. PetrinTzCl exhibits a photochemical quantum yield (QYPC) at 532 nm not evident with PETN. Using static spectroscopic methods, we observe energy absorption on the tetrazine (Tz) ring that results in photodissociation yielding N2, Cl-CN, and Petrin-CN as the major photoproducts. The QYPC was enhanced with increasing irradiation intensity. Experiment and theoretical calculations imply this excitation mechanism follows sequential photon absorption. Dynamic simulations demonstrate that the relaxation mechanism leading to the observed photochemistry in PetrinTzCl is due to vibrational excitation during internal conversion. PetrinTzCl's single photon stability and intensity dependence suggest this material could be stable in ambient lighting, yet possible to initiate with short-pulsed lasers.

Within the fewest switches surface hopping (FSSH) formulation, a swarm of independent trajectories is propagated and the equations of motion for the quantum coefficients are evolved coherently along each independent nuclear trajectory. That is, the phase factors, or quantum amplitudes, are retained. At a region of strong coupling, a trajectory can branch into multiple wavepackets. Directly following a hop, the two wavepackets remain in a region of nonadiabatic coupling and continue exchanging population. After these wavepackets have sufficiently separated in phase space, they should begin to evolve independently from one another, the process known as decoherence. Decoherence is not accounted for in the standard surface hopping algorithm and leads to internal inconsistency. FSSH is designed to ensure that at any time, the fraction of classical trajectories evolving on each quantum state is equal to the average quantum probability for that state. However, in many systems this internal consistency requirement is violated. Treating decoherence is an inherent problem that can be addressed by implementing some form of decoherence correction to the standard FSSH algorithm. In this study, we have implemented two forms of the instantaneous decoherence procedure where coefficients are reinitialized following hops. We also test the energy-based decoherence correction (EDC) scheme proposed by Granucci et al. and a related version where the form of the decoherence time is taken from Truhlar's Coherent Switching with Decay of Mixing method. The sensitivity of the EDC results to changes in parameters is also evaluated. The application of these computationally inexpensive ad hoc methods is demonstrated in the simulation of nonradiative relaxation in two conjugated oligomer systems, specifically poly-phenylene vinylene and poly-phenylene ethynylene. We find that methods that have been used successfully for treating small systems do not necessarily translate to large polyatomic systems and their success depends on the particular system under study. Fil: Nelson, Tammie. Los Alamos National Laboratory; Estados Unidos Fil: Fernández Alberti, Sebastián. Universidad Nacional de Quilmes; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: Roitberg, Adrián. University of Florida; Estados Unidos Fil: Tretiak, Sergei. Los Alamos National Laboratory; Estados Unidos

Energy transfer in donor–acceptor chromophore pairs, where the absorption of each species is well separated while donor emission and acceptor absorption overlap, can be understood through a Förster resonance energy transfer model. The picture is more complex for organic conjugated polymers, where the total absorption spectrum can be described as a sum of the individual contributions from each subunit (chromophore), whose absorption is not well separated. Although excitations in these systems tend to be well localized, traditional donors and acceptors cannot be defined and energy transfer can occur through various pathways where each subunit (chromophore) is capable of playing either role. In addition, fast torsional motions between individual monomers can break conjugation and lead to reordering of excited state energy levels. Fast torsional fluctuations occur on the same timescale as electronic transitions leading to multiple trivial unavoided crossings between excited states during dynamics. We use the non-adiabatic excited state molecular dynamics (NA-ESMD) approach to simulate energy transfer between two poly-phenylene vinylene (PPV) oligomers composed of 3-rings and 4-rings, respectively, separated by varying distances. The change in the spatial localization of the transient electronic transition density, initially localized on the donors, is used to determine the transfer rate. Our analysis shows that evolution of the intramolecular transition density can be decomposed into contributions from multiple transfer pathways. Here we present a detailed analysis of ensemble dynamics as well as a few representative trajectories which demonstrate the intertwined role of electronic and conformational processes. Our study reveals the complex nature of energy transfer in organic conjugated polymer systems and emphasizes the caution that must be taken in performing such an analysis when a single simple unidirectional pathway is unlikely. Fil: Nelson, Tammie. Los Alamos National Laboratory; Estados Unidos Fil: Fernández Alberti, Sebastián. Universidad Nacional de Quilmes; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: Roitberg, Adrián. University of Florida; Estados Unidos Fil: Tretiak, Sergei. Los Alamos National Laboratory; Estados Unidos

Graphane and its derivatives are stable and extremely thin, wide band gap semiconductors that promise to replace conventional semiconductors in electronics, catalysis, and energy applications, greatly reducing device size and power consumption. In order to be useful, band-gap excitations in these materials should be long lived and nonradiative energy losses to heat should be slow. We use state-of-the-art nonadiabatic molecular dynamics combined with time-dependent density functional theory in order to determine the nonradiative lifetime and radiative line width of the lowest energy singlet excitations in pure and oxidized graphanes. We predict that pure graphane has a very long nonradiative decay time, on the order of 100 ns, while epoxy- and hydroxy-graphanes lose electronic excitation energy to heat 10-20 times faster. The luminescence line width is 1.5 times larger in pristine graphane compared to its oxidized forms, and at room temperature, it is on the order of 50 meV. Hydroxylation lowers graphane's band gap, while epoxidation increases the gap. The nonradiative decay and luminescence line width of pure graphane are governed by electron coupling to the 1200 cm(-1) vibrational mode. In the oxidized forms of graphane, the electronic excitations couple to a broad range of vibrational modes, rationalizing the more rapid nonradiative decay in these systems. The slow electron-phonon energy losses in graphane compared to other graphene derivatives, such as carbon nanotubes and nanoribbons, indicate that graphanes are excellent candidates for semiconductor applications.

The nonadiabatic excited-state molecular dynamics (NA-ESMD) method and excited-state instantaneous normal modes (ES-INMs) analyses have been applied to describe the state-specific vibrations that participate in the unidirectional energy transfer between the coupled chromophores in a branched dendrimeric molecule. Our molecule is composed of two-, three-, and four-ring linear poly(phenyleneethynylene) (PPE) units linked through meta-substitutions. After an initial laser excitation, an ultrafast sequential S(3) → S(2) → S(1) electronic energy transfer from the shortest to longest segment takes place. During each S(n) → S(n-1) (n = 3, 2) transition, ES-INM(S(n)) and ES-INM(S(n-1)) analyses have been performed on S(n) and S(n-1) states, respectively. Our results reveal a unique vibrational mode localized on the S(n) state that significantly matches with the corresponding nonadiabatic coupling vector d(n,(n-1)). This mode also corresponds to the highest frequency ES-INM(S(n)) and it is seen mainly during the electronic transitions. Furthermore, its absence as a unique ES-INM(S(n-1)) reveals that state-specific vibrations play the main role in the efficiency of the unidirectional S(n) → S(n-1) electronic and vibrational energy funneling in light-harvesting dendrimers.

Radiationless transitions between electronic excited states in polyatomic molecules take place through unavoided crossings of the potential energy surfaces with substantial non-adiabatic coupling between the respective adiabatic states. While the extent in time of these couplings are large enough, these transitions can be reasonably well simulated through quantum transitions using trajectory surface hopping-like methods. In addition, complex molecular systems may have multiple "trivial" unavoided crossings between noninteracting states. In these cases, the non-adiabatic couplings are described as sharp peaks strongly localized in time. Therefore, their modeling is commonly subjected to the identification of regions close to the particular instantaneous nuclear configurations for which the energy surfaces actually cross each other. Here, we present a novel procedure to identify and treat these regions of unavoided crossings between non-interacting states using the so-called Min-Cost algorithm. The method differentiates between unavoided crossings between interacting states (simulated by quantum hops), and trivial unavoided crossings between non-interacting states (detected by tracking the states in time with Min-Cost procedure). We discuss its implementation within our recently developed non-adiabatic excited state molecular dynamics framework. Fragments of two- and four-ring linear polyphenylene ethynylene chromophore units at various separations have been used as a representative molecular system to test the algorithm. Our results enable us to distinguish and analyze the main features of these different types of radiationless transitions the molecular system undertakes during internal conversion.