Photoacidic and Photobasic Behavior of Transition Metal Compounds with Carboxylic Acid Group(s).

Excited state proton transfer studies of six Ru polypyridyl compounds with carboxylic acid/carboxylate group(s) revealed that some were photoacids and some were photobases. The compounds [Ru(II)(btfmb)2(LL)](2+), [Ru(II)(dtb)2(LL)](2+), and [Ru(II)(bpy)2(LL)](2+), where bpy is 2,2'-bipyridine, btfmb is 4,4'-(CF3)2-bpy, and dtb is 4,4'-((CH3)3C)2-bpy, and LL is either dcb = 4,4'-(CO2H)2-bpy or mcb = 4-(CO2H),4'-(CO2Et)-2,2'-bpy, were synthesized and characterized. The compounds exhibited intense metal-to-ligand charge-transfer (MLCT) absorption bands in the visible region and room temperature photoluminescence (PL) with long τ > 100 ns excited state lifetimes. The mcb compounds had very similar ground state pKa's of 2.31 ± 0.07, and their characterization enabled accurate determination of the two pKa values for the commonly utilized dcb ligand, pKa1 = 2.1 ± 0.1 and pKa2 = 3.0 ± 0.2. Compounds with the btfmb ligand were photoacidic, and the other compounds were photobasic. Transient absorption spectra indicated that btfmb compounds displayed a [Ru(III)(btfmb(-))L2](2+)* localized excited state and a [Ru(III)(dcb(-))L2](2+)* formulation for all the other excited states. Time dependent PL spectral shifts provided the first kinetic data for excited state proton transfer in a transition metal compound. PL titrations, thermochemical cycles, and kinetic analysis (for the mcb compounds) provided self-consistent pKa* values. The ability to make a single ionizable group photobasic or photoacidic through ligand design was unprecedented and was understood based on the orientation of the lowest-lying MLCT excited state dipole relative to the ligand that contained the carboxylic acid group(s).

Distance dependent electron transfer at TiO2 interfaces sensitized with phenylene ethynylene bridged Ru(II)-isothiocyanate compounds.

Excess electrons present in semiconductor nanocrystallites generate a significant electric field, yet the role this field plays in molecular charge transfer processes remains poorly understood. Three ruthenium bipyridyl cis-Ru(bpy)(LL)(NCS)2 compounds, where LL is a 4-substituted bpy, with zero, one, or two phenylene ethynylene bridge units, were anchored to mesoporous nanocrystalline TiO2 thin films to specifically quantify interfacial charge transfer with chromophores designed to be set at variable distances from the surface. Injection of electrons into TiO2 resulted in a blue shift of the metal-to-ligand charge transfer absorption consistent with an underlying Stark effect. The electroabsorption data were used to quantify the electric field experienced by the compounds that decreased from 0.85 to 0.22 MV/cm as the number of OPE spacers increased from 0 to 2. Charge recombination on the 10(-8)-10(-5) s time scale correlated with the magnitude of the electric field with an apparent attenuation factor ß = 0.12 Å(-1). Slow components to charge recombination observed on the 10(-4)-10(-1) s time scale that were unaffected by temperature, irradiance, or the bridge units present on the molecular sensitizer were attributed to electron tunneling between TiO2 acceptor states. The photocurrent efficiencies of solar cells based on these compounds decreased markedly when the bridge units were present on the sensitizer. Iodine was found to form adducts with all three compounds, K = 1.8 ± 0.2 × 10(4) M(-1), but only significantly lowered the excited state injection yield for those that possessed the bridge units.

Excited-state relaxation of ruthenium polypyridyl compounds relevant to dye-sensitized solar cells.

Remarkably little is known about metal-to-ligand charge transfer (MLCT) excited-state relaxation pathways for the ruthenium polypyridyl compounds commonly utilized in dye-sensitized solar cells. Herein, we report variable-temperature photoluminescence studies of compounds of the general type cis-Ru(LL)2(X)2, where LL is a bipyridyl ligand and X is CN(-) or NCS(-), and contrast them with the well-known Ru(bpy)3(2+) and Os(bpy)3(2+), where bpy is 2,2'-bipyridine, to identify relaxation pathways. In fluid acetonitrile and propylene carbonate solutions, excited-state relaxation was found to obey a first-order kinetic model. An Arrhenius analysis revealed internal conversion to two different states, assigned to an upper MLCT excited state and a ligand field excited state. Relaxation through the upper MLCT excited state typically displayed pre-exponential factors of 10(7)-10(8) s(-1) with activation energies of 400-900 cm(-1), while relaxation rates through ligand field states occurred with 10(14)-10(15) s(-1) and activation energies of 4000-5000 cm(-1). Nonradiative decay through LF states was sensitive to the ligand identity, but in a manner that was not fully consistent with the spectrochemical series. Excited-state relaxation of cis-Ru(dcbH2)2(NCS)2, where dcbH2 is 4,4'-(CO2H)2-2,2'-bipyridine, sometimes termed N3, anchored to mesoporous TiO2 or ZrO2 thin films immersed in CH3CN occurred through the upper MLCT excited state with activational parameters in surprisingly good agreement with those abstracted from data measured in fluid solution. An important finding from these studies is that the population of dissociative ligand field excited states is unlikely to lead to unwanted photochemistry of dye-sensitized solar cells based on cis-Ru(LL)2(NCS)2-type compounds at room temperature.

Homoleptic "star" Ru(II) polypyridyl complexes: shielded chromophores to study charge-transfer at the sensitizer-TiO2 interface.

Three homoleptic star-shaped ruthenium polypyridyl complexes, termed Star YZ1, Star YZ2, and Star YZ3, where the Ru(II) center is coordinated to three bipyridine ligands each carrying two oligo(phenylene ethynylene) (OPE) rigid linker units terminating with isophthalic ester (Ipa) groups for binding to metal-oxide surfaces were synthesized. In Star YZ3, each OPE linker was substituted with two n-butoxy (n-BuO) solubilizing groups. Star complex YZ4, which is homoleptic but lacks the octahedral symmetry, was synthesized as a reference compound. The Star complexes were synthesized using two approaches: in the first, Ru(4,4'-(Br)2-2,2'-bpy)3 was reacted in a Sonogashira cross coupling reaction with the ethynyl-OPE-Ipa linkers; in the second, the 2,2'-bpy-OPE-Ipa ligands were reacted with Ru(DMSO)4(PF6)2. The photophysical behavior of the Star complexes were studied in fluid solution and anchored to the surface of mesoporous nanocrystalline TiO2 thin films (Star/TiO2). To a first approximation the excited state behavior in CH3CN was unchanged when the compounds were anchored to a TiO2 thin film, indicating that the highly symmetrical (octahedral) and rigid molecular structure of the ligands shielded the chromophoric core from the TiO2 semiconductor. Inefficient excited state injection, φ(inj) < 0.05, was observed to occur on a nanosecond time scale with slow recombination. In addition, the presence of n-BuO groups on the linker unit gave a large increase in the extinction coefficient of YZ3, which allows for enhanced harvesting of sunlight. The results indicate that molecular design on the nanometer length scale can be utilized to control excited state relaxation pathways at semiconductor surfaces.

Intramolecular hole transfer at sensitized TiO2 interfaces.

Three ruthenium compounds with triphenyl amine donors were anchored to nanocrystalline TiO(2) thin films for interfacial electron-transfer studies. Molecular tuning of reduction potentials enabled the extent of hole transfer from the photo-oxidized ruthenium center to the triphenyl amine to be tuned from zero to unity. Kinetic data revealed two new insights into the unwanted interfacial recombination reaction of the injected electrons with the oxidized compounds. First, recombination was highly sensitive to the concentration of oxidized compounds present at the interface. Second, a significant enhancement of the open circuit photovoltage was realized without a change in the recombination kinetics, behavior attributed to translation of the hole away from the interface thereby generating a larger surface dipole.

Long-wavelength sensitization of TiO2 by ruthenium diimine compounds with low-lying π* orbitals.

The role of low-lying π* orbitals in dye-sensitized solar cells based on mesoporous thin films of anatase TiO(2) nanocrystallites remains unknown. Herein we report three ruthenium compounds, cis-Ru(dcbq)(2)(NCS)(2), cis-Ru(dcbq)(bpy)(NCS)(2), and cis-Ru(dcb)(bq)(NCS)(2), where bpy is 2,2'-bipyridine, dcb is 4,4'-(CO(2)H)(2)-2,2'-bipyridine, bq is 2,2'-biquinoline, and dcbq is 4,4'-(CO(2)H)(2)-2,2'-biquinoline, that were synthesized, characterized, and contrasted with the well-known N3 compound (i.e., cis-Ru(dcb)(2)(NCS)(2)) in dye-sensitized solar cells. These compounds maintain the same cis-Ru(NCS)(2) core with a systematic variation in the energy of the π* orbitals of the diimine ligand: bpy > dcb > bq > dcbq. The lowered π* orbitals resulted in enhanced red absorption relative to N3. With HCl pretreated TiO(2) in regenerative solar cells, sensitization from 400 to 900 nm was realized with cis-Ru(dcb)(bq)(NCS)(2) and global power conversion efficiencies as high as 6.5% were achieved under 1 sun of AM 1.5 irradiation. The energy conversion efficiency was found to be acutely sensitive to the presence of p-tert-butylpyridine (TBP) in a 0.5 M LiI/0.05 M I(2) acetonitrile electrolyte. Nanosecond transient absorption studies revealed that the addition of TBP decreased the excited-state injection yield for the compounds with biquinoline ligands. Spectro-electrochemical studies showed that the HCl pretreatment lowered the effective density of TiO(2) acceptor states and confirmed that the presence of TBP raised them toward the vacuum level. There was no spectroscopic data to support the hypothesis that the π* levels of the diimine ligand mediate back-electron transfer to the oxidized dye or the redox mediator was found.

Slow excited state injection and charge recombination at star-shaped ruthenium polypyridyl compounds--TiO2 interfaces.

The excited states of two star-shaped nanometre-sized ruthenium polypyridyl compounds were largely unchanged when anchored to nanocrystalline TiO(2) thin films due to a highly symmetrical and rigid ligand structure that isolated the chromophoric core from the semiconductor. Interfacial electron transfer occurred on unusually slow time scales.