Dynamics of electrochemical electron-transfer reactions

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Although the theory of electrochemical electron transfer reactions has been the subject of intensive research for five decades, there are still several important questions open. In this project we want to address two related problems: (1) How does the rate of electron transfer depend on the interaction between the reactants? (2) What effect does the interaction with the solvent bath and the concomitant dissipation have on the reaction dynamics? For the investigation we want to draw on recent progress in the theory of dissipation in quantum systems; in addition, we plan to perform computer simulations for model systems. We expect, that our results should not only be relevant to electrochemical systems, but also to other cases in which electron transfer is coupled to a bath; in particular, we plan to apply them to electron injection into semiconductors. Our long-term goal is a theory for long-range electron transfer in biological systems, to which this work should be an important stepping stone.