Photo-electrochemical surface modification and analysis of dye sensitised solar cells

Photoelectric measurements on a series of ruthenium complexes with 9 different 2,2`;6`,2``-terpyridine ligands modified by different thienyl substitutions on the 4`-position were performed. Three of the ligands were novel.
With a 2,2’:6’2’’-terpyridine that has a carboxylic acid group it was possible to attach the complexes to nanocrystalline-TiO2 surfaces. By changing the anchoring ligands and counter ligands it was possible to tune the efficiency of light to electricity conversion.
Electroactive polymer films were electrochemically deposited from complexes with two of the novel ligands.
The surface bound ruthenium complexes were able to photoelectrochemically polymerise monomers of bis-ethylenedioxythiophene, terthiophene and [Ru(terpy-bisthiophene)]2+ on the TiO2 surface. Some photovoltaic activity was seen using the polymerised bis-EDOT as solid-state hole conductor.
A technique to measure the photovoltaic capabilities of dye sensitised TiO2 thin films was developed using a scanning electrochemical microscope (SECM). It was possible to estimate performance on very small areas of TiO2 allowing for fast measurements and screening of arrays with different dyes in the future. The technique was dubbed photo-electrochemical microscope (PECM).
Some organic dyes of the imide perylene family were investigated as dyes in DNSC. Some improvements were reached, mainly by changing the attaching group.