Light-soaking free organic photovoltaic devices with sol-gel deposited ZnO and AZO electron transport layers.

This paper investigates light-soaking effects in inverted organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices with zinc oxide (ZnO) and aluminum doped ZnO (AZO) electron transport layers (ETL), which is important for the development of low-cost and stable solar cells. The samples demonstrated high solar harvesting properties with power conversion efficiency up to 3.9%.

Architecture of supramolecular metal complexes for photocatalytic CO2 reduction: ruthenium-rhenium bi- and tetranuclear complexes.

We study the electrochemical, spectroscopic, and photocatalytic properties of a series of Ru(II)-Re(I) binuclear complexes linked by bridging ligands 1,3-bis(4'-methyl-[2,2']bipyridinyl-4-yl)propan-2-ol (bpyC3bpy) and 4-methyl-4'-[1,10]phenanthroline-[5,6-d]imidazol-2-yl)bipyridine (mfibpy) and a tetranuclear complex in which three [Re(CO)3Cl] moieties are coordinated to the central Ru using the bpyC3bpy ligands. In the bpyC3bpy binuclear complexes, 4,4'-dimethyl-2,2'-bipyridine (dmb) and 4,4'-bis(trifluoromethyl)-2,2'-bipyridine ({CF3}2bpy), as well as 2,2'-bipyridine (bpy), were used as peripheral ligands on the Ru moiety. Greatly improved photocatalytic activities were obtained only in the cases of [Ru{bpyC3bpyRe(CO)3Cl}3]2+ (RuRe3) and the binuclear complex [(dmb)2Ru(bpyC3bpy)Re(CO)3Cl]2+ (d2Ru-Re), while photocatalytic responses were extended further into the visible region.

Adjacent- versus remote-site electron injection in TiO2 surfaces modified with binuclear ruthenium complexes.

Nanocrystalline thin films of TiO2 cast on an optically transparent indium tin oxide glass were sensitized with ruthenium homo- and heterobinuclear complexes, [LL'Ru(BL)RuLL']n+ (n = 2, 3), where L and L' are 4,4'-dicarboxy-2,2'-bipyridine (dcb) and/or 2,2'-bipyridine (bpy) and BL is a rigid and linear heteroaromatic entity (tetrapyrido[3,2-a:2',3'-c:3",2"-h:2'",3'"-j]phenazine (tpphz) or 1,4-bis([1,10]phenanthroline[5,6-d]imidazol-2-yl)benzene (bfimbz)). The photophysical behavior of the RuII-RuII diads in solution indicated the occurrence of intercomponent energy transfer from the upper-lying Ru --> bpy charge-transfer (CT) excited state of the Ru(bpy)(2) moiety to the lower-lying Ru --> dcb CT excited state of the Ru(bpy)(dcb) (or Ru(dcb)(2)) subunit in the heterobinuclear complexes. These sensitizer diads adsorbed on nanostructured TiO2 surfaces in a perpendicular or parallel attachment mode.

Synthesis and characterization of ruthenium(II) molecular assemblies for photosensitization of nanocrystalline TiO2: utilization of hydroxyl grafting mode.

New Ru polypyridine complexes [(bpy)2Ru(L)]2+, where bpy = 2,2'-bipyridine and L = dipyrido[3,2-a:2',3'-c]-phenazine-2-carboxylic acid (dppzc), dipyrido[3,2-f:2',3'-h]quinoxaline-2,3-dicarboxylic acid (dpq(COOH)2), 3-hydroxydipyrido[3,2-f:2',3'-h]quinoxaline-2-carboxylic acid (dpq(OHCOOH)), 2,3-dihydroxydipyrido[3,2-f:2',3'-h]quinoxaline (dpq(OH)2), and [(L')Ru(dppzc)2]2+, where L' = bpy and 1,10-phenanthroline (phen), have been synthesized, characterized, and anchored to nanocrystalline TiO2 electrodes for light to electrical energy conversion in regenerative photoelectrochemical cells with I-/I2 acetonitrile electrolyte. These sensitizers have intense metal-to-ligand charge-transfer (MLCT) bands centered at approximately 450 nm. The effect of pH on the absorption and emission spectra of these complexes consisting of protonatable ligands has been investigated in water by spectrophotometric titration.