ATR IR spectra were measured on a Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) Perkin-Elmer System 2000 spectrometer equipped with a SpectraTech horizontal ATR cell (60 incident angle, Ge ATR crystal).
Titanium dioxide mesoporous films were deposited on ITO glass by the reverse-micellar route and the photosensitizer RuL 2 (NCS) 2 was attached as in [3]. The ureasil precursors were synthesized as in [18]. Synthesis of class II nanocomposite gels using ureasil precursors, their enrichment with the iodine/ iodide couple, and their deposition in a DSPEC was carried out as follows: absolute ethanol (2 mL) was mixed with the ureasil precursor (PP-4000, 2 g). KI (0.5 M) and I 2 (0.05 M) were added to the above mixture with stirring at ambient conditions. The mixture was continuously stirred for about 3 h. Then acetic acid (0.35 mL) was added and stirring continued for another 4 h at ambient conditions. At the end of this period, a viscous brown fluid was obtained. A few drops of this solution were applied to the electrode-bearing TiO 2 film with attached dye and we placed the second (platinized) electrode on top, simply by pressing the two electrodes together. Connections were made with silver paste and a copper ribbon as seen schematically in Figure 4.