title: Semiempirical (ZINDO-PCM) approach to predict the radiative and nonradiative decay rates of a molecule close to metal particles.
abstract: In this work, we present an extension of a model previously proposed (Andreussi et al. J. Chem. Phys. 2004, 121, 10190) to treat the effect of a metal particle on the optical properties of a molecule in solution (close to such a particle) in the framework of the polarizable continuum model (PCM). This extension concerns the combination of such a model with the semiempirical method Zerner's intermediate neglect of differential overlap (ZINDO), which allows us to treat large size molecular systems, as the ones normally used in the experiments. A refinement of the model is also introduced to take into account the effect of the metal specimen on the absorption process of the molecular system, which affects the probability that a molecule reaches the excited state. Numerical tests are presented to validate the reliability of the ZINDO results with respect to quantum-mechanical DFT methods. Comparisons with experimental results on two different large molecular systems are reported, and the effect of the metal on the absorption process is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Scuola Normale Superiore, piazza dei Cavalieri 7, 56126 Pisa, Italy. marco.caricato@yale.edu
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Caricato
authors.forename: Oliviero
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Andreussi
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Corni