Detailed investigations of ZnO photoelectrodes preparation for dye sensitized solar cells.

Wurtzite ZnO hexagonal nanopyramids were successfully synthesized in the liquid phase from homogeneous methanolic solutions of zinc acetate and tetramethylammonium hydroxide at an excess of zinc ions. The formation and properties of the nanocrystals were examined as a function of synthesis conditions. No significant influence of the [Zn(2+)]/[OH(-)] ratio was noticed on the final particle size, in spite of increased amounts of OH(-) ions, which tend to accelerate the particle nucleation and growth. Nevertheless, the reactant concentration ratio influences the surface properties of the ZnO nanocrystals. Mesoporous ZnO films were prepared by doctor blading ethanolic pastes containing ZnO nanoparticles and ethyl cellulose onto FTO conductive glass substrate followed by calcination. Additionally, the influence of a plasticizer (triacetin)-used during the paste preparation-on the film quality was investigated. A higher content of ZnO nanoparticles and plasticizer in the pastes improved the film quality. Four different temperatures (i.e., 400, 425, 450, and 475 °C) were used for the film calcination and their influence on the structural properties of the films was characterized. In principle, increasing the calcination temperature goes hand in hand with an increase of particle size, as well as the pore diameter and reduction of the surface area. Suitable mesoporous films were employed as photoanodes in dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). In order to assess the effect of the varied parameters on complete DSSC devices-using cis-diisothiocyanato-bis(2,2'-bipyridyl-4,4'-dicarboxylato) ruthenium(II)bis(tetrabutylammonium (N719) as a sensitizer-incident photon to current efficiency (IPCE) and current voltage measurements were carried out. The IPCE measurements confirmed photoinduced electron injection from the dye, reaching IPCE values up to 76%. Furthermore, current-voltage characteristics of complete cells emphasized the importance of the proper preparation methods and temperatures. These features are important assets for the preparation of nanocrystalline ZnO based photoelectrodes and for improving the DSSC performance.

Efficient synthetic access to cationic dendrons and their application for ZnO nanoparticles surface functionalization: new building blocks for dye-sensitized solar cells.

A new concept for the efficient synthesis of cationic dendrons, 4-tert-butyl-1-(3-(3,4-dihydroxybenzamido)benzyl)pyridinium bromide (17), 1,1'-(5-(3,4-dihydroxybenzamido)-1,3-phenylene)bis(methylene)bis(4-tert-butylpyridinium) bromide (18), N1,N7-bis(3-(4-tert-butyl-pyridium-methyl)phenyl)-4-(3-(3-(4-tert-butyl-pyridinium-methyl)phenyl-amino)-3-oxopropyl)-4-(3,4-dihydroxybenzamido)heptanediamide tribromide (19), and N1,N7-bis(3,5-bis(4-tert-butyl-pyridium-methyl)phenyl)-4-(3-(3,5-bis(4-tert-butyl-pyridinium-methyl)phenylamino)-3-oxopropyl)-4-(3,4-dihydroxybenzamido)heptanediamide hexabromide (20), and their facile binding to zinc oxide (ZnO) nanostructures is introduced. Dendrons containing highly reactive benzylic bromides reacted readily with 4-tert-butyl-pyridine and resulted in cationic dendrons. Furthermore, these permanently positively charged dendrons were equipped with a catechol anchor group. This enabled ZnO surface functionalization by simple immersion. The adsorption of 17, 18, 19, and 20 on the colloidal nanoparticles was monitored by Langmuir isotherms. The highest obtained experimental loadings correspond to 99.5%, 98.6%, 99.1%, and 42.5% of the particle surface for 17, 18, 19, and 20, respectively. These results indicate insufficient adsorption of the largest molecule 20 leading to reduced colloidal stability of the nanoparticles, while an enhanced stability after grafting with 17, 18, and 19 was observed. Mesoporous films suitable for the use as electrodes in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) were prepared. Subsequently, the films were functionalized with 18, 19, or 20 and sensitized with zinc-5,15-bis-[2',6'-bis-{2'',2''-bis-(carboxy)-ethyl}-methyl-4'-tert-butyl-pheny]-10,20-bis-(4'-tert-butylphenyl)porphyrin-octasodium-salt. UV-vis absorption spectra confirmed that 18, 19, and 20 are suitable for the stable electrostatic attachment of the dye. Current-voltage characteristics of complete cells demonstrated that increasing positive functionalization of the ZnO surface leads to decreased open circuit voltages (V(oc)). All V(oc) values were around 0.4 V with a maximum for the 18 functionalized ZnO film of 0.45 V. The maximum cell efficiency obtained (0.31%) is rather high, considering the narrow spectral absorption of the dye and the rather thin ZnO films used. Finally, incident photon to current efficiency (IPCE) measurements confirmed photoinduced electron injection from the dye. These features are important assets for applications in particle technology and even facilitated advanced devices like a supramolecular DSSC complete with a subsequent layer of negatively charged porphyrins.

Uniquely shaped double-decker buckyferrocenes--distinct electron donor-acceptor interactions.

Quantum chemical calculations and various photophysical techniques, ranging from steady-state absorption and steady-state as well as time-resolved fluorescence to femtosecond pump-probe experiments, were employed to examine ground- and excited-state interactions in a set of novel double-decker buckyferrocenes (i.e., Fe(2)(C(60)Me(10))Cp(2)): C(2v) and D(5d) isomers. When compared to the individual reference systems, the intimate fullerene/ferrocene contacts reflect appreciable ground-state interactions, namely, substantial redistribution of charge density between the two electron donors (i.e., ferrocenes) and the electron acceptor (i.e., fullerene). Furthermore, an intervalence charge-transfer transition (i.e., ferrocene-ferrocenium interaction) was established, but only in the C(2v) isomer. The first insight into the electron donor-acceptor interactions came from inspecting the fullerene-centered fluorescence. Relative to the reference compounds that contain no ferrocene, which exhibit quantum yields of up to 0.1, and knowing that the fluorescence of the investigated double-decker type conjugates is quenched to 10(-3), transient absorption measurements prove unequivocally the rapid formation of the radical ion-pair states as the dominant products of excited-state deactivation in the double-decker buckyferrocenes. Despite these products having much higher lying radical ion-pair states relative to the corresponding single-decker buckyferrocene, their lifetimes, which vary between 12 and 39 ps, are slightly shorter.

Self assembling of porphyrin-fullerene dyads in the Langmuir and Langmuir-Blodgett films: formation as well as spectral, electrochemical and vectorial electron transfer studies.

Donor-acceptor dyads of water-soluble Zn porphyrins and C60 bearing either pyridine or imidazole ligand were self assembled via axial coordination in Langmuir and Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) films. Compression and surface potential versus area per molecule isotherms as well as ellipsometry and BAM measurements showed that molecules were aggregated in all Langmuir films before compression. The area per molecule in the absence of aggregation was determined by linear extrapolation of the area at the zero surface pressure to infinite adduct dilution. Comparison of the extrapolated and theoretically calculated areas, being dependent on the composition of the subphase solution, indicated that dyads were oriented with their porphyrin macrocycles in plane of the air-solution interface. Calculated by molecular modeling thickness of the Langmuir films was in accord with that determined by ellipsometry. The Langmuir films were transferred, by using the LB technique, onto different solid substrates for spectroscopic, microscopic, electroanalytical, and photochemical characterization. From the IR spectroscopy investigations it followed that the porphyrin macrocycle of the dyad was either nearly parallel or tilted with respect to the substrate plane. Molecularly modeled pseudo-hexagonal packing and thickness of the LB films were in accord with that imaged by STM and determined by ellipsometry, respectively. The electrochemical redox states of the dyads were established by performing simultaneous cyclic voltammetry and piezoelectric microgravimetry measurements of the LB films on Au-quartz electrodes. Both steady-state and time-resolved emission studies of the zinc porphyrin-fullerene LB films revealed efficient quenching of the singlet-excited Zn porphyrin. Based on the free-energy calculations and dyad orientation in the film, this quenching was attributed to vectorial electron transfer within the dyad.

Experimental and theoretical studies of the colloidal stability of nanoparticles-a general interpretation based on stability maps.

The current work addresses the understanding of the stabilization of nanoparticles in suspension. Specifically, we study ZnO in ethanol for which the influence of particle size and reactant ratio as well as surface coverage on colloidal stability in dependence of the purification progress was investigated. The results revealed that the well-known ζ-potential determines not only the colloidal stability but also the surface coverage of acetate groups bound to the particle surface. The acetate groups act as molecular spacers between the nanoparticles and prevent agglomeration. Next to DLVO calculations based on the theory of Derjaguin, Landau, Verwey and Overbeek using a core-shell model we find that the stability is better understood in terms of dimensionless numbers which represent attractive forces as well as electrostatic repulsion, steric effects, transport properties, and particle concentration. Evaluating the colloidal stability in dependence of time by means of UV-vis absorption measurements a stability map for ZnO is derived. From this map it becomes clear that the dimensionless steric contribution to colloidal stability scales with a stability parameter including dimensionless repulsion and attraction as well as particle concentration and diffusivity of the particles according to a power law with an exponent of -0.5. Finally, we show that our approach is valid for other stabilizing molecules like cationic dendrons and is generally applicable for a wide range of other material systems within the limitations of vanishing van der Waals forces in refractive index matched situations, vanishing ζ-potential and systems without a stabilizing shell around the particle surface.

Grafting porphyrins (face-to-edge/orthogonal versus face-to-face/parallel) to ZnO en route toward dye-sensitized solar cells.

Novel types of binding motives have been investigated within the context of sensitizing ZnO-based dye-sensitized solar cells with metalloporphyrins. In particular, a complementary class of metalloporphyrin has been synthesized to probe the impact of a face-to-edge/orthogonal versus face-to-face/parallel orientation of the metalloporphyrin with respect to ZnO and has been compared to TiO(2)-based dye-sensitized solar cells. Our studies provide a deep and detailed understanding of the individual electron-transfer processes at the ZnO/metalloporphyrin interface, that is, electron injection, recombination, and dye regeneration, by means of steady-state and time-resolved techniques. Interestingly, we found that for our novel ZnO/metalloporphyrin systems, the injection efficiencies are close to unity, despite their long, nonconjugated anchoring group length.

A ruthenium bridge in fullerene-ferrocene arrays: synthesis of [Ru(C60Me5)R(CO)2] (R=C6H4Fc, C identical withCFc) and their charge-transfer properties.

New fullerene-ferrocene arrays, [Ru(C(60)Me(5))(C(4)H(6)Fc)(CO)(2)] (Fc=ferrocenyl) and [Ru(C(60)Me(5))(CCFc)(CO)(2)], in which the ruthenium complex functions as a conjugative bridge, were synthesized by the reaction of [Ru(C(60)Me(5))Cl(CO)(2)] with FcC(6)H(4)MgBr and FcCCLi, respectively. These compounds were investigated by electrochemical measurement, single-crystal X-ray structural analysis, and photophysical measurement. Upon photoirradiation, the former compound was converted rapidly into the corresponding triplet state in toluene (tau(singlet)=21 ps), whereas the charge-separated state was predominant in THF (tau(singlet)=10.5 ps; tau(CS)=355 ps). The latter compound, on the other hand, formed the charge-separated state in both toluene and THF (tau(singlet)=3.0 ps; tau(CS)=152 ps). Thus, the structural difference between the phenylene and acetylene bridges in 1 and 2, respectively, was found to change the outcome of the photophysical processes.

"Two-point" assembling of Zn(II) and Co(II) metalloporphyrins derivatized with a crown ether substituent in Langmuir and Langmuir-Blodgett films.

The effect of "two-point" interactions of Zn(II) and Co(II) metalloporphyrins, bearing 15-crown-5 ether peripheral substituents, on their assembling in Langmuir and Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) films was investigated. That is, simultaneously, the central metal ion of the porphyrin was axially ligated by a nitrogen-containing ligand in the emerged part of the Langmuir film on one hand, and a suitably selected cation pertaining in the subphase solution was supramolecularly complexed by the crown ether moiety in the submerged part of the film on the other. The compression and polarity properties of the Langmuir films of the derivatized free-base 5,10,15-triphenyl-20-(benzo-15-crown-5)porphyrin, H2(TPMCP), and the corresponding cobalt(II) and zinc(II) metalloporphyrins, denoted as Co(TPMCP) and Zn(TPCMP), respectively, as well as inclusion complexes of the metalloporphyrins with selected cations were investigated. For the axial ligation of Zn(II) and Co(II), pyrazine (pyz) and 4,4'-bipyridnine (bpy) aromatic as well as piperazine (ppz) and 1,4-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octane (DABCO) cyclic heteroaliphatic ligands were selected. The films were formed on the water subphase solution in the absence and presence of LiCl, NaCl, or NH4Cl. The Langmuir films were built of monolayer J-type aggregates of tilted porphyrin macrocycles. The porphyrins formed rather labile complexes with the cations in the subphase. Nevertheless, the XPS analysis revealed that these cations were LB transferred together with the porphyrins onto solid substrates. In the Co(TPMCP) Langmuir films formed on the water subphases, Co(II) was complexed by aromatic but not cyclic heteroaliphatic ligands, while, in these films formed on the NaCl subphase solutions, the metalloporphyrin was also complexed by DABCO. In Langmuir films spread on alkaline subphase solutions, both aromatic and heteroaliphatic ligands formed complexes with Co(TPMCP) of different stoichiometries. The X-ray reflectivity and GIXD measurements performed on selected LB films revealed some structure-building effects of the axial ligation.

Langmuir-Blodgett films of a cationic zinc porphyrin-imidazole-functionalized fullerene dyad: formation and photoelectrochemical studies.

Electron donor-acceptor dyad ensembles of a water-soluble cationic zinc porphyrin (viz., zinc tetrakis(N-methylpyridinium)porphyrin tetrachloride, Zn(TMPyP)) and a C60 derivative that bears an imidazole ligand (viz., 2-(phenylimidazolyl)fulleropyrrolidine, C60im) were assembled during the formation of Langmuir and then Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) films. Surface pressure versus surface area isotherms and surface pressure time profiles, as well as Brewster angle microscopic images documented that the Langmuir films formed were remarkably stable. Subsequently, these Langmuir films were transferred onto different solid substrates, by using the LB technique, for spectroscopic and photoelectrochemical characterization. The UV-vis spectroscopic investigations confirmed that the water-soluble Zn(TMPyP) was, indeed, transferred together with C60im in the LB films. Upon visible light illumination of these LB films, deposited on the ITO transparent conductive supports, a photocurrent generated in the C60im-Zn(TMPyP) system is ascribed to an efficient photoinduced electron transfer from the electron donor, porphyrin singlet excited-state to the electron acceptor, C60. Overall, internal photon-to-current efficiency, IPCE, of the photoanodic current generation (with ascorbate as a sacrificial electron donor) in the ITO/C60im-Zn(TMPyP)/ascorbate/Pt construct is over 5x larger than that of the photocathodic system (with methyl viologen, MV2+, as a sacrificial electron acceptor) in the ITO/Zn(TMPyP)-C60im/MV2+/Pt construct. Highly ordered film stacking favors vectorial electron transfer within the dyad, giving rise to the highest IPCE values of 2.5% determined for a photoanode that was composed of around 20 monolayer films.

Sharing orbitals: ultrafast excited state deactivations with different outcomes in bucky ferrocenes and ruthenocenes.

We report on the singlet ground and singlet/triplet excited-state features of a series of bucky ferrocenes, bucky ruthenocenes, and respective reference compounds. In the bucky ferrocene conjugates, intimate contacts between the fullerenes and ferrocenes result in appreciable ground-state interactions-suggesting a substantial shift of charge density from the electron donor (i.e., ferrocene) to the electron acceptor (i.e., fullerene). In contrast, no prominent charge-transfer features were observed for the bucky ruthenocene conjugates. An arsenal of experimental techniques, ranging from fluorescence (i.e., steady state and time-resolved) and pump probe experiments (i.e., femtosecond and nanoseconds) to pulse radiolysis, were employed to examine excited-state interactions. In the excited states, bucky ferrocene conjugates are dominated by rapid charge separation reactions (0.8 +/- 0.1 ps) to yield metastable radical ion pairs. The radical ion pair lifetimes vary between 27 and 39 ps. No charge separation was, however, found in the corresponding bucky ruthenocence. Instead, an intrinsically faster excited-state deactivation (approximately 200 ps) evolves from the heavier ruthenium center-relative to iron. This effect is further augmented by the unfavorably shifted oxidation potential in ruthenocene of about 0.61 V, which in ruthenocene (-deltaG(ET) = -0.26 eV), in contrast to ferrocene (-deltaG(ET) = 0.35 eV), renders charge separation thermodynamically unfeasible.