Approaches to enhance the performance of recent sensitizers employed in dye-sensitized NiO photocathodes for DSC and DSPEC devices are described.

In this work a peptide nucleic acid has been covalently linked with porphyrin and boron-dipyrromethene exhibiting self assembly properties and light-harvesting capability.

Herein, we report on the study of supramolecular assemblies based on polyoxometalates (POMs) upon their modification with amino acids. Two POM-amino acid hybrids were synthesized by coupling a functionalized Keggin type polyoxoanion [PW11O39{Sn(C6H4)C[triple bond, length as m-dash]C(C6H4)COOH}]4- with carboxyl-protected (methyl-ester) phenylalanine or diphenylalanine peptides. Surprisingly, all compounds, including the initial POM, formed supramolecular nanospheres in different solvent mixtures, which were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations for the POM-amino acid species revealed that the hydrophobic forces are mainly responsible for the initial aggregation into incipient micelle type structures, in which the organic arms are buried inside the aggregate while POM polar heads are more exposed to the solvent with tetrabutyl-ammonium counter cations acting as linkers.

The syntheses, the photophysical/electrochemical characterization, and the first application in LECs of different metallated porphyrins are provided.