Tunneling of excess electron from free and trapped states

The association of an excess electron with scavengers in nonpolar solvents is considered assuming that the free electron performs the free diffusion during the lifetime between sequential places of temporary localization. The reaction of a free electron during this motion is at first taken into account along with a tunneling of the localized electron. When the mean step length between sequential localizations is short the reaction of the excess electron is diffusional and the free state contribution to the total reaction rate is negligible. In the opposite case, when this reaction becomes essentially hopping, the corresponding rate is significantly accelerated due to a faster diffusion of the free electron. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.