Organic-ruthenium(II) polypyridyl complex based sensitizer for dye-sensitized solar cell applications

Abstract

A new high molar extinction coefficient organic-ruthenium(II) polypyridyl complex sensitizer (RD-Cou) that contains 2, 2′,6, 6′ -tetramethyl-9-thiophene-2-yl-2,3,5,6,6a,11c-hexahydro1H,4H-11oxa-3a-aza- benzoanthracene-10-one as extended -conjugation of ancillary bipyridine ligand, 4, 4 ′ -dicaboxy-2, 2′ 6′, 2 -bipyridine, and a thiocyanate ligand in its molecular structure has been synthesized and completely characterized by CHN, Mass, 1H-NMR, UV-Vis, and fluorescence spectroscopies as well as cyclic voltammetry. The new sensitizer was tested in dye-sensitized solar cells using a durable redox electrolyte and compared its performance to that of standard sensitizer Z-907. © 2011 Lingamallu Giribabu et al.