Photo-sensitizing ruthenium complexes for solid state dye solar cells in combination with conducting polymers as hole conductors

✍ Scribed by Yasuteru Saito; Takahiro Azechi; Takayuki Kitamura; Yasuchika Hasegawa; Yuji Wada; Shozo Yanagida

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2004
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 197 KB
• Volume: 248
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0010-8545
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ccr.2004.03.025

✦ Synopsis

Pyrrole-or thiophene-bearing pyridine ligands were designed to synthesize ruthenium complexes with pyrrole or thiophene groups as sensitizing dye molecules. Solid state dye sensitized solar cells (sDSCs) were fabricated using the newly designed ruthenium complexes as sensitizers and conducting polymers, polypyrrole and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) as solid-state hole transport materials. The polymers were introduced into the void of mesoporous dye sensitized TiO 2 electrodes by in situ chemical-and photo-electrochemical polymerization. Employment of the novel ruthenium dyes with pyrrole or thiophene groups in the ligand systems improved the photovoltaic performance of the sDSCs. Electronic communication at the interface between the new ruthenium dyes and the conducting polymer coupled with ionic liquids was found to contribute to the improved photovoltaic performance of sDSCs.