Novel Applications of Mixed Quantum-Classical Dynamics to Studies of Charge and Energy Transfer in Chemical and Biological Systems

混合量子经典动力学在化学和生物系统中电荷和能量转移研究中的新应用

• 批准号: RGPIN-2015-04303
• 负责人: Hanna, Gabriel
• 金额: $ 2.55万
• 依托单位: University of Alberta
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2019-01-01 至 2020-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=685718
• 关键词: Novel; Applications; Mixed; Quantum; Classical

The transport of protons, electrons, and energy plays an instrumental role in many chemical and biological phenomena such as hydrogen bonding, enzyme catalysis, photochemistry, and photosynthesis, and in energy conversion devices such as electrochemical and photovoltaic cells. A fundamental understanding of these transport processes may be achieved through theoretical studies of the underlying molecular dynamics and ultrafast spectroscopic measurements of systems undergoing these processes. Quantum mechanics is required for explaining the dynamics of protons/electrons and energy redistribution. Therefore, any efforts made towards modeling these processes should account for their inherently quantum mechanical nature. Unfortunately, fully quantum mechanical simulations of these processes occurring in environments such as liquids, proteins, polymers, and molecular assemblies, which contain large numbers of atoms, are not possible on today's fastest computers. To dramatically cut down the computational costs, in these cases, one can treat a small number of particles directly associated with the transport quantum mechanically, while the remaining particles can be treated using classical Newtonian mechanics to a good approximation. Our goal is to apply such mixed quantum-classical approaches for simulating the dynamics and ultrafast spectra of a variety of charge and energy transfer processes in chemical and biological systems of fundamental and technological importance (i.e. photo-induced electron transfer, proton-coupled electron transfer, and vibrational energy transport), and thereby shed new light on ways of controlling them to increase the efficiency and efficacy of solar energy harvesting materials, catalysts for water splitting and solar fuels production, and molecular electronics applications. We will focus on control methods, which rely on varying the properties of the classical part of the system, or coupling the quantum part to light fields whose properties can be easily tuned. The results of these studies will ultimately lead to principles for designing devices that can reduce Canada's dependence on fossil fuels or be used in Canada's electronics industry.

质子、电子和能量的传递在许多化学和生物现象中起着重要的作用，如氢键、酶催化、光化学和光合作用，以及在能量转换装置中，如电化学和光伏电池。对这些输运过程的基本理解可以通过对这些过程的潜在分子动力学和超快光谱测量的理论研究来实现。量子力学是解释质子/电子动力学和能量再分配所必需的。因此，对这些过程进行建模的任何努力都应该考虑到它们固有的量子力学性质。不幸的是，在当今最快的计算机上，这些过程在液体、蛋白质、聚合物和包含大量原子的分子组合等环境中发生的完全量子力学模拟是不可能的。为了大幅降低计算成本，在这些情况下，人们可以用量子力学的方法处理与输运直接相关的少数粒子，而剩下的粒子可以用经典牛顿力学来处理，得到一个很好的近似。我们的目标是应用这种混合量子-经典方法来模拟化学和生物系统中具有基础和技术重要性的各种电荷和能量转移过程的动力学和超快光谱（即光诱导电子转移，质子耦合电子转移和振动能量传输），从而揭示控制它们的新方法，以提高太阳能收集材料的效率和功效。用于水分解和太阳能燃料生产的催化剂，以及分子电子学应用。我们将重点关注控制方法，这些方法依赖于改变系统经典部分的特性，或者将量子部分与特性易于调谐的光场耦合。这些研究的结果将最终导致设计设备的原则，这些设备可以减少加拿大对化石燃料的依赖或用于加拿大的电子工业。