TY - JOUR A1 - Friedl, Christian A1 - Renger, Thomas A1 - Berlepsch, Hans V. A1 - Ludwig, Kai A1 - Schmidt am Busch, Marcel A1 - Megow, Jörg T1 - Structure Prediction of Self-Assembled Dye Aggregates from Cryogenic Transmission Electron Microscopy, Molecular Mechanics, and Theory of Optical Spectra JF - The journal of physical chemistry : C, Nanomaterials and interfaces N2 - Cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM) studies suggest that TTBC molecules self-assemble in aqueous solution to form single-walled tubes with a diameter of about 35 A. In order to reveal the arrangement and mutual orientations of the individual molecules in the tube, we combine information from crystal structure data of this dye with a calculation of linear absorbance and linear dichroism spectra and molecular dynamics simulations. We start with wrapping crystal planes in different directions to obtain tubes of suitable diameter. This set of tube models is evaluated by comparing the resulting optical spectra with experimental data. The tubes that can explain the spectra are investigated further by molecular dynamics simulations, including explicit solvent molecules. From the trajectories of the most stable tube models, the short-range ordering of the dye molecules is extracted and the optimization of the structure is iteratively completed. The final structural model is a tube of rings with 6-fold rotational symmetry, where neighboring rings are rotated by 30 and the-transition dipole moments of the chromophores form an angle of 74 with respect to the symmetry axis of the tube. This model is in agreement with cryo-TEM images and can explain the optical spectra, consisting of a sharp red-shifted J-band that is polarized parallel to to the symmetry axis of the tube and a broad blue-shifted H-band polarized perpendicular to this axis. The general structure of the homogeneous spectrum of this hybrid HJ-aggregate is described by an analytical model that explains the difference in redistribution of oscillator strength inside the vibrational manifolds of the J- and H-bands and the relative intensities and excitation energies of those bands. In addition to the-particular system investigated here, the present methodology can be expected to aid the structure prediction for a wide range of self-assembled dye aggregates. Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.6b05856 SN - 1932-7447 VL - 120 SP - 19416 EP - 19433 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kulesza, Alexander Jan A1 - Titov, Evgenii A1 - Daly, Steven A1 - Wlodarczyk, Radoslaw A1 - Megow, Jörg A1 - Saalfrank, Peter A1 - Choi, Chang Min A1 - MacAleese, Luke A1 - Antoine, Rodolphe A1 - Dugourd, Philippe T1 - Excited States of Xanthene Analogues: Photofragmentation and Calculations by CC2 and Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory JF - ChemPhysChem : a European journal of chemical physics and physical chemistry N2 - Action spectroscopy has emerged as an analytical tool to probe excited states in the gas phase. Although comparison of gas-phase absorption properties with quantum-chemical calculations is, in principle, straightforward, popular methods often fail to describe many molecules of interest-such as xanthene analogues. We, therefore, face their nano-and picosecond laser-induced photofragmentation with excited-state computations by using the CC2 method and time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT). Whereas the extracted absorption maxima agree with CC2 predictions, the TDDFT excitation energies are blueshifted. Lowering the amount of Hartree-Fock exchange in the DFT functional can reduce this shift but at the cost of changing the nature of the excited state. Additional bandwidth observed in the photofragmentation spectra is rationalized in terms of multiphoton processes. Observed fragmentation from higher-lying excited states conforms to intense excited-to-excited state transitions calculated with CC2. The CC2 method is thus suitable for the comparison with photofragmentation in xanthene analogues. KW - density functional calculations KW - CC2 calculations KW - multiphoton processes KW - photofragmentation KW - xanthenes Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/cphc.201600650 SN - 1439-4235 SN - 1439-7641 VL - 17 SP - 3129 EP - 3138 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Megow, Jörg T1 - How Van der Waals Interactions Influence the Absorption Spectra of Pheophorbide a Complexes: A Mixed Quantum-Classical Study JF - ChemPhysChem : a European journal of chemical physics and physical chemistry N2 - The computation of dispersive site energy shifts due to van der Waals interaction (London dispersion forces) was combined with mixed quantum-classical methodology to calculate the linear optical absorption spectra of large pheophorbide a (Pheo) dendrimers. The computed spectra agreed very well with the measurements considering three characteristic optical features occurring with increasing aggregate size: a strong line broadening, a redshift, and a low-energy shoulder. The improved mixed quantum-classical methodology is considered a powerful tool in investigating molecular aggregates. KW - dispersion KW - electrostatic interactions KW - mixed quantum-classical methodology KW - optical spectra KW - supramolecular chemistry Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/cphc.201500326 SN - 1439-4235 SN - 1439-7641 VL - 16 IS - 14 SP - 3101 EP - 3107 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Megow, Jörg T1 - Computing dispersive, polarizable, and electrostatic shifts of excitation energy in supramolecular systems: PTCDI crystal JF - The journal of chemical physics : bridges a gap between journals of physics and journals of chemistr N2 - The gas-to-crystal-shift denotes the shift of electronic excitation energies, i.e., the difference between ground and excited state energies, for a molecule transferred from the gas to the bulk phase. The contributions to the gas-to-crystal-shift comprise electrostatic as well as inductive polarization and dispersive energy shifts of the molecular excitation energies due to interaction with environmental molecules. For the example of 3,4,9,10-perylene-tetracarboxylic-diimide (PTCDI) bulk, the contributions to the gas-to-crystal shift are investigated. In the present work, electrostatic interaction is calculated via Coulomb interaction of partial charges while inductive and dispersive interactions are obtained using respective sum over states expressions. The coupling of higher transition densities for the first 4500 excited states of PTCDI was computed using transition partial charges based on an atomistic model of PTCDI bulk obtained from molecular dynamics simulations. As a result it is concluded that for the investigated model system of a PTCDI crystal, the gas to crystal shift is dominated by dispersive interaction. Published by AIP Publishing. Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4962179 SN - 0021-9606 SN - 1089-7690 VL - 145 PB - American Institute of Physics CY - Melville ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Megow, Jörg A1 - Kulesza, Alexander A1 - May, Volkhard T1 - A mixed quantum-classical description of pheophorbide a linear absorption spectra: Quantum-corrections of the Q(y)- and Q(x)-absorption vibrational satellites JF - Chemical physics letters N2 - The ground-state classical path approximation is utilized to compute molecular absorption spectra in a mixed quantum-classical frame. To improve the description for high-frequency vibrational satellites, related quantum correction factors are introduced. The improved method is demonstrated for the Q(y),and Q(x)-bands of pheophorbide a. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cplett.2015.11.016 SN - 0009-2614 SN - 1873-4448 VL - 643 SP - 61 EP - 65 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Megow, Jörg A1 - Körzdörfer, Thomas A1 - Renger, Thomas A1 - Sparenberg, Mino A1 - Blumstengel, Sylke A1 - Henneberger, Fritz A1 - May, Volkhard T1 - Calculating Optical Absorption Spectra of Thin Polycrystalline Organic Films: Structural Disorder and Site-Dependent van der Waals Interaction JF - The journal of physical chemistry : C, Nanomaterials and interfaces N2 - We propose a new approach for calculating the change of the absorption spectrum of a molecule when moved from the gas phase to a crystalline morphology. The so-called gas-to-crystal shift Delta epsilon(m) is mainly caused by dispersion effects and depends sensitively on the molecules specific position in the nanoscopic setting. Using an extended dipole approximation, we are able to divide Delta epsilon(m)= -QW(m) in two factors, where Q depends only on the molecular species and accounts for all nonresonant electronic transitions contributing to the dispersion while W-m is a geometry factor expressing the site dependence of the shift in a given molecular structure. The ability of our approach to predict absorption spectra is demonstrated using the example of polycrystalline films of 3,4,9,10-perylenetetracarboxylic diimide (PTCDI). Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.5b01587 SN - 1932-7447 VL - 119 IS - 10 SP - 5747 EP - 5751 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Megow, Jörg A1 - Röhr, Merle I. S. A1 - Busch, Marcel A1 - Renger, Thomas A1 - Mitric, Roland A1 - Kirstein, Stefan A1 - Rabe, Jürgen P. A1 - May, Volkhard T1 - Site-dependence of van der Waals interaction explains exciton spectra of double-walled tubular J-aggregates JF - Physical chemistry, chemical physics : a journal of European Chemical Societies N2 - The simulation of the optical properties of supramolecular aggregates requires the development of methods, which are able to treat a large number of coupled chromophores interacting with the environment. Since it is currently not possible to treat large systems by quantum chemistry, the Frenkel exciton model is a valuable alternative. In this work we show how the Frenkel exciton model can be extended in order to explain the excitonic spectra of a specific double-walled tubular dye aggregate explicitly taking into account dispersive energy shifts of ground and excited states due to van der Waals interaction with all surrounding molecules. The experimentally observed splitting is well explained by the site-dependent energy shift of molecules placed at the inner or outer side of the double-walled tube, respectively. Therefore we can conclude that inclusion of the site-dependent dispersive effect in the theoretical description of optical properties of nanoscaled dye aggregates is mandatory. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c4cp05945j SN - 1463-9076 SN - 1463-9084 VL - 17 IS - 10 SP - 6741 EP - 6747 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Megow, Jörg A1 - Röhr, Merle I. S. A1 - Schmidt am Busch, Marcel A1 - Renger, Thomas A1 - Mitrić, Roland A1 - Kirstein, Stefan A1 - Rabe, Jürgen P. A1 - May, Volkhard T1 - Site-dependence of van der Waals interaction explains exciton spectra of double-walled tubular J-aggregates JF - Physical chemistry, chemical physics : PCCP ; a journal of European chemical societies N2 - The simulation of the optical properties of supramolecular aggregates requires the development of methods, which are able to treat a large number of coupled chromophores interacting with the environment. Since it is currently not possible to treat large systems by quantum chemistry, the Frenkel exciton model is a valuable alternative. In this work we show how the Frenkel exciton model can be extended in order to explain the excitonic spectra of a specific double-walled tubular dye aggregate explicitly taking into account dispersive energy shifts of ground and excited states due to van der Waals interaction with all surrounding molecules. The experimentally observed splitting is well explained by the site-dependent energy shift of molecules placed at the inner or outer side of the double-walled tube, respectively. Therefore we can conclude that inclusion of the site-dependent dispersive effect in the theoretical description of optical properties of nanoscaled dye aggregates is mandatory. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c4cp05945j SN - 1463-9084 SN - 1463-9076 VL - 17 IS - 10 SP - 6741 EP - 6747 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Plehn, Thomas A1 - Megow, Jörg A1 - May, Volkhard T1 - Concerted charge and energy transfer processes in a highly flexible fullerene-dye system: a mixed quantum-classical study JF - Physical chemistry, chemical physics : a journal of European Chemical Societies N2 - Photoinduced excitation energy transfer and accompanying charge separation are elucidated for a supramolecular system of a single fullerene covalently linked to six pyropheophorbide-a dye molecules. Molecular dynamics simulations are performed to gain an atomistic picture of the architecture and the surrounding solvent. Excitation energy transfer among the dye molecules and electron transfer from the excited dyes to the fullerene are described by a mixed quantum-classical version of the Forster rate and the semiclassical Marcus rate, respectively. The mean characteristic time of energy redistribution lies in the range of 10 ps, while electron transfer proceeds within 150 ps. In between, on a 20 to 50 ps time-scale, conformational changes take place in the system. This temporal hierarchy of processes guarantees efficient charge separation, if the structure is exposed to a solvent. The fast energy transfer can adopt the dye excitation to the actual conformation. In this sense, the probability to achieve charge separation is large enough since any dominance of unfavorable conformations that exhibit a large dye-fullerene distance is circumvented. And the slow electron transfer may realize an averaging with respect to different conformations. To confirm the reliability of our computations, ensemble measurements on the charge separation dynamics are simulated and a very good agreement with the experimental data is obtained. Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c4cp01081g SN - 1463-9076 SN - 1463-9084 VL - 16 IS - 25 SP - 12949 EP - 12958 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Plehn, Thomas A1 - Ziemann, Dirk A1 - Megow, Jörg A1 - May, Volkhard T1 - Frenkel to Wannier-Mott Exciton Transition: Calculation of FRET Rates for a Tubular Dye Aggregate Coupled to a CdSe Nanocrystal JF - The journal of physical chemistry : B, Condensed matter, materials, surfaces, interfaces & biophysical chemistry N2 - The coupling is investigated of Frenkel-like exciton states formed in a tubular dye aggregate (TDA) to Wannier-Mott-like excitations of a semiconductor nanocrystal (NC). A double well TDA of the cyanine dye C8S3 with a length of 63.4 nm and a diameter of 14.7 nm is considered. The TDA interacts with a spherical Cd819Te630 NC of 4.5 nm diameter. Electronic excitations of the latter are described in a tight-binding model of the electrons and holes combined with a configuration interaction scheme to consider their mutual Coulomb coupling. To achieve a proper description of TDA excitons, a recently determined structure has been used, the energy transfer coupling has been defined as a screened interaction of atomic centered transition charges, and the site energies of the dye molecules have been the subject of a polarization correction. Even if both nanoparticles are in direct contact, the energy transfer coupling between the exciton levels of the TDA and of the NC stays below 1 meV. It results in FRET-type energy transfer with rates somewhat larger than 10(9)/s. They coincide rather well with recent preliminary experiments. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/jp5111696 SN - 1520-6106 VL - 119 IS - 24 SP - 7467 EP - 7472 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Plötz, Per-Arno A1 - Megow, Jörg A1 - Niehaus, Thomas A1 - Kühn, Oliver T1 - All-DFTB Approach to the Parametrization of the System-Bath Hamiltonian Describing Exciton-Vibrational Dynamics of Molecular Assemblies JF - Journal of chemical theory and computation N2 - Spectral density functions are central to the simulation of complex many body systems. Their determination requires making approximations not only to the dynamics but also to the underlying electronic structure theory. Here, blending different methods bears the danger of an inconsistent description. To solve this issue we propose an all-DFTB approach to determine spectral densities for the description of Frenkel excitons in molecular assemblies. The protocol is illustrated for a model of a PTCDI crystal, which involves the calculation of monomeric excitation energies and Coulomb couplings between monomer transitions, as well as their spectral distributions due to thermal fluctuations of the nuclei. Using dynamically defined normal modes, a mapping onto the standard harmonic oscillator spectral densities is achieved. Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jctc.8b00493 SN - 1549-9618 SN - 1549-9626 VL - 14 IS - 10 SP - 5001 EP - 5010 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Plötz, Per-Arno A1 - Megow, Jörg A1 - Niehaus, Thomas A1 - Kühn, Oliver T1 - Spectral densities for Frenkel exciton dynamics in molecular crystals BT - a TD-DFTB approach JF - The journal of chemical physics : bridges a gap between journals of physics and journals of chemistr N2 - Effects of thermal fluctuations on the electronic excitation energies and intermonomeric Coulomb couplings are investigated for a perylene-tetracarboxylic-diimidecrystal. To this end, time dependent density functional theory based tight binding (TD-DFTB) in the linear response formulation is used in combination with electronic ground state classical molecular dynamics. As a result, a parametrized Frenkel exciton Hamiltonian is obtained, with the effect of exciton-vibrational coupling being described by spectral densities. Employing dynamically defined normal modes, these spectral densities are analyzed in great detail, thus providing insight into the effect of specific intramolecular motions on excitation energies and Coulomb couplings. This distinguishes the present method from approaches using fixed transition densities. The efficiency by which intramolecular contributions to the spectral density can be calculated is a clear advantage of this method as compared with standard TD-DFT. Published by AIP Publishing. Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4976625 SN - 0021-9606 SN - 1089-7690 VL - 146 PB - American Institute of Physics CY - Melville ER -