The deployment of photovoltaic technologies is forecast to increase substantially in the near to mid future to meet society's energy demand in a sustainable way. Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) in...

Two coordination complexes have been made by combining the dithiolene complexes [M(mnt)2]2– (mnt = maleonitriledithiolate; M = Ni2+ or Cu2+) as anion, with the copper(II) coordination complex [Cu(Stetra)] (Stetra = 6,6′-bis(4,5-dihydrothiazol-2-yl)-2,2′-bipyri-dine) as cation. The variation of the metal centers leads to a dramatic change in the conductivity of the materials, with the M = Cu2+ variant (Cu–Cu) displaying semiconductor behavior with a conductivity of approximately 2.5 × 10–8 S cm–1, while the M = Ni2+ variant (Ni–Cu) displayed no observable conductivity. Computational studies found Cu–Cu enables a minimization of reorganization energy losses and, as a result, a lower barrier to the charge transfer process, resulting in the reported higher conductivity.