Electron Transfer from Molecules to Solid Surfaces

Professor Frank Willig, Visiting Scholar in the School of Energy Resources and the Center for Photoconversion and Catalysis will present a short course on Electron Transfer from Molecules to Solid Surfaces.

The course will meet Mondays and Wednesdays from noon to 1 pm in Physical Sciences Room 446 beginning Wednesday, September 7, 2011. The short course ends on October 31, 2011.  Feel free to bring your lunch.

Topics to be Covered

1. Electron transfer described by the classical Marcus theory
2. Electron transfer described by quantum mechanical perturbation theory
3. "Density of states" or "energy dependence of the rate constant"
4. Electron transfer in donor-bridge-acceptor molecules
5. Electron transfer through space and in molecular donor-molecular bridge-semiconductor systems
6. Solvent control of electron transfer time
7. Electron transfer involving a continuum of vibrational acceptor states (molecular acceptor)
8. Effects of anharmonic potential curves on electron transfer
9. Electron transfer from molecules (redox ions) into a continuum of electronic acceptor states (dark injection into electrodes)
10. Electron transfer from the excited electronic state of molecules into a continuum of electronic acceptor states (most general case of an electron transfer reaction)
11. Experimental techniques for measuring observables characteristic for the general case of an electron transfer reaction
12. Electron transfer involving non-adiabatic processes in metal electrodes
13. Ab ionitio model calculation of electron transfer from the excited electronic state of a molecule into a semiconductor electrode
14. Effects of a solvent on the general electron transfer case (change in experimental observables, in experimental techniques, in theoretical model calculations)

Profess Willig is one of the most accomplished scientists in the area of electron transfer between molecules and surfaces and solar energy conversion having extensive publications and citations in this area. He is a student of the renowned scientist Professor Heinz Gerischer and during his career had very active researach groups at the Fritz Haber Institute and the Hahn Neitner Institute (now the Helmholtz Centrum) both in Berlin. His lectures can make clear even complex concepts.