Vibronic exciton theory of singlet fission. III. How vibronic coupling and thermodynamics promote rapid triplet generation in pentacene crystals

Roel Tempelaar, David R. Reichman

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

72 Scopus citations

Abstract

We extend the vibronic exciton theory introduced in our previous work to study singlet fission dynamics, in particular addressing recent indications of the importance of vibronic coupling in this process. A microscopic and non-perturbative treatment of electronic and selected vibrational degrees of freedom in combination with Redfield theory allows us to dynamically consider clusters of molecules under conditions close to those in molecular crystals that exhibit fission. Using bulk pentacene as a concrete example, our results identify a number of factors that render fission rapid and effective. Strong coupling to high-frequency Holstein modes generates resonances between the photo-prepared singlet and product triplet states. We furthermore find the large number of triplet combinations associated with bulk periodic systems to be critical to the fission process under such vibronically resonant conditions. In addition, we present results including, in an approximate manner, the effects of Peierls coupling, indicating that this factor can both enhance and suppress fission depending on its interplay with vibronic resonance and thermodynamics.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number244701
JournalJournal of Chemical Physics
Volume148
Issue number24
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 28 2018

Funding

The authors thank Benedikt Kloss for helpful discussions. R.T. acknowledges The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) for support through a Rubicon grant. D.R.R. acknowledges funding from NSF Grant No. CHE\u20131464802.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Physics and Astronomy
  • Physical and Theoretical Chemistry

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