A new class of triarylamine compound functionalized with bulky triisopropylsilyl ether (-OTIPS) groups is used as a hole transport material in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Using both optical and photoelectrochemical techniques, we compared the performance of this compound with that of a parent compound containing methyl ethers as well as the conventional I₃⁻/I⁻ redox couple. DSSCs fabricated with the triisopropylsilyl ether-substituted triarylamine exhibited high open circuit potentials (V(oc) > 0.9 V on average) and efficiencies of up to 1.9%. However, cells fabricated with triarylamine containing methyl ethers performed very poorly, pointing to the importance of -OTIPS in the overall performance of this material.

A highly sensitive and selective membrane electrode with 9-crown-3 derivative (CD) as ionophore, potassium tetrakis-(p-chlorophenyl) borate as anionic additive (KTB), acetophenone (AP) as solvent mediator was prepared and investigated as a Be(II) sensor. The best performance was observed with the membrane having the percent ratio 30% PVC: 8% CD: 6% KTB: 56% Acetophenone. The poly(vinyl chloride) PVC membrane containing 9-crown-3 derivative (CD) directly coated on a graphite electrode, shows a Nernstian response for Be(II) ions over a very wide concentration range (1.0 Â 10 À1 À 1.0 Â 10 À7 M) with a detection limit of 8.0 Â 10 À8 M (ca. 0.72 ng/mL). It has a fast response time of ca. 20 s and can be used for at least 10 weeks without any major deviation in potential. The proposed sensor exhibits very good selectivity with respect to common alkali, alkaline earth, transition and heavy metal ions. The proposed sensor was used as end point indicator electrode in the titration of Be(II) ions with EDTA. It was also applied to determination of Be(II) in real sample.

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