# Room Temperature Quantum Coherence vs. Electron Transfer in a Rhodanine Derivative Chromophore

## TL;DR

This study investigates ultrafast quantum dynamics and electron transfer in a Rhodanine chromophore, revealing that strong solvent coupling enhances transfer rates at room temperature, with quantum coherence not always being beneficial.

## Contribution

It models the quantum dynamics of a Rhodanine chromophore in different solvents, highlighting the role of dissipation and challenging the assumption that quantum coherence always improves electron transfer.

## Key findings

- Electron transfer rates are highest in strong chromophore-solvent coupling regimes.
- Quantum coherence persists up to hundreds of femtoseconds but does not necessarily optimize transfer.
- Strong dissipation enhances electron transfer at room temperature.

## Abstract

Understanding electron transfer in organic molecules is of great interest in quantum materials for light harvesting, energy conversion, and integration of molecules into solar cells. This, however, poses the challenge of designing specific optimal molecular structure for which the processes of ultrafast quantum coherence and electron transport are not so well understood. In this work, we investigate subpicosecond time scale quantum dynamics and electron transfer in an efficient electron acceptor Rhodanine chromophoric complex. We consider an open quantum system approach to model the complex-solvent interaction and compute the crossover from weak to strong dissipation on the reduced system dynamics for both a polar (Methanol) and a non-polar solvent (Toluene). We show that the electron transfer rates are enhanced in the strong chromophore-solvent coupling regime, being the highest transfer rates those found at room temperature. Even though the computed dynamics are highly non-Markovian, and they may exhibit a quantum character up to hundreds of femtoseconds, we show that quantum coherence does not necessarily optimize the electron transfer in the chromophore.