Issue 42, 2013

Novel phenanthroline-based ruthenium complexes for dye-sensitized solar cells: enhancement in performance through fluoro-substitution

Abstract

Three new ruthenium sensitizers [Ru(H2dcbpy)(LX)(NCS)2] [H2dcbpy = 4,4′-dicarboxylic acid-2,2′-bipyridine, and LX = 2-(4-fluorophenyl)-1H-imidazo[4,5-f][1,10]phenanthroline (RuLF), 4-(1H-imidazo[4,5-f][1,10]phenanthrolin-2-yl)-N,N-dimethylaniline (RuLN), or 2-(4-methylphenyl)-1H-imidazo[4,5-f][1,10]phenanthroline (RuLC)], have been designed and synthesized. Under standard global AM 1.5 solar conditions, the device using the RuLF sensitizer gave a conversion efficiency of 7.28%, compared to 7.50% optimized for the N719 dye. The power-conversion efficiency of RuLF is 24% and 66% higher than those of RuLN and RuLC, respectively, due to a remarkable fluoro-substitution effect. The origins of this effect have been thoroughly investigated by spectroscopic, electrochemical, and density functional theory (DFT) studies. Our results show the fluoro-substitution serves as the key factor for improving the device performance, the role of which is to increase the dye density on TiO2, alter the molecular packing, and tune the electron donating property. These findings may provide an alternative strategy for the design of a new type of ruthenium sensitizer by the introduction of C–F bonds to the auxochromic ligand to improve the device performance.

Graphical abstract: Novel phenanthroline-based ruthenium complexes for dye-sensitized solar cells: enhancement in performance through fluoro-substitution

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
17 Jun 2013
Accepted
12 Aug 2013
First published
06 Sep 2013

RSC Adv., 2013,3, 19311-19318

Novel phenanthroline-based ruthenium complexes for dye-sensitized solar cells: enhancement in performance through fluoro-substitution

Q. Yu, J. Huang, Y. Shen, L. Xiao, J. Liu, D. Kuang and C. Su, RSC Adv., 2013, 3, 19311 DOI: 10.1039/C3RA43018A

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