Purification of Bipyridyl Ruthenium Dye and Its Application in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Abstract

Bipyridyl ruthenium dye N3 and N719 was synthesized, purified by the gel chromatogram method and characterized by the proton NMR and UV-Vis spectra. After the purification most of the impurities that decreased the photoelectrochemical properties were removed and the open-circuit voltage (Voc), short-circuit photocurrent density ( J s c ) and overall photo-electric conversion efficiency (v) of the dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) increased dramatically. The standard curve of absorbance vs. concentration of N3 and N719 dye was achieved by using UV-Vis quantitative analytic spectrophotometry. This method was employed to determine the concentration of the dye solution after coating of Ti02 films. The linear concentration range of absorbance vs. concentration of N719 was between 6.25 X 1O-6 mol . L-' and 1 X l O -4 mol . L-' with the molar extinction coefficient ( E ) 1.58 X lo4 L . mol-'cm-' at a wavelength of 533 -531 nm and 1.50 X lo4 L . mol-' * cm-' at a wavelength of 393 -384 nm , accordingly. The linear concentration range of the N3 dye was 6.25 X 1O-6 mol . L-' to 1.5 X lop4 mol . L-' with E of 1.47 X lo4 L . mol-' . cm-' at a wavelength of 538 -535 nm and 1.48 X lo4 L . mol-' . cm-' at a wavelength of 399 -393 nm.

Monitoring N3 Dye Adsorption and Desorption on TiO2 Surfaces: A Combined QCM-D and XPS Study

“…The solution concentration of N3 in ethanol was verified with UV−visible (UV−vis) spectroscopy (Varian Cary 300), using λ max = 538 nm and ε = 1.47 × 10 4 M −1 cm −1 . 23 Sensors were used for multiple runs, with dye removed by exposure to 2 vol % Hellmanex III solution for 24 h before cleaning as previously described above. The sensors showed no deterioration or increased noise during successive trials.…”

“…Data were acquired using QSoft (Q-Sense), processed using QTools (Q-Sense), and analyzed using Matlab (Mathworks, Inc). The solution concentration of N3 in ethanol was verified with UV–visible (UV–vis) spectroscopy (Varian Cary 300), using λ max = 538 nm and ε = 1.47 × 10 4 M –1 cm –1 . Sensors were used for multiple runs, with dye removed by exposure to 2 vol % Hellmanex III solution for 24 h before cleaning as previously described above.…”

Multiple linker half-squarylium dyes for dye-sensitized solar cells; are two linkers better than one?

“…13 Finally, it has been reported that the purity of N3 and N719 has a profound inuence on their performance as sensitizers in DSC devices. 14 This has led to the development of modied bipyridyl ligands which have been used to prepare sensitizers which do not require such extensive purication during the dye synthesis. 15 Whilst the aforementioned modications of the organic ligands enable the properties of Ru dyes to be tuned, these dyes are still an expensive component of DSC devices because ruthenium is an expensive raw material, the synthetic procedures are multi-step and dye purication is complicated.…”

Integration of upconverting β-NaYF4:Yb3+,Er3+@TiO2 composites as light harvesting layers in dye-sensitized solar cells

“…This is an important aspect when engineering these materials for DSSCs as the dye absorbs green light more strongly than red and as a result, the DSSC performs better under green illumination. 43,23 Since the red and green upconversion processes compete for upconverted energy, it is important to ensure that the amount of a-phase is minimized in order to maximize the coupling of the upconverted light to the solar cell through green upconversion. The upconversion uorescence spectra of the as-prepared UC sub-microcrystals and the composite UC materials are shown in Fig.…”