Contact effects on electronic transport in donor-bridge-acceptor complexes interacting with a thermal bath

Abstract

A model for electron transfer in donor-bridge-acceptor complexes with electronic coupling to nuclear bridge modes is studied using the Redfield formulation. We demonstrate that the transport mechanism through the molecular bridge is controlled by the location of the electronic-nuclear coupling term along the bridge. As the electronic-nuclear coupling term is shifted from the donor/acceptor-bridge contact sites into the bridge, the mechanism changes from kinetic transport (incoherent, thermally activated, and bridge-length independent) to coherent tunneling oscillations. This study joins earlier works aiming to explore the factors which control the mechanism of electronic transport through molecular bridges and molecular wires.