Kong Fan-Tai

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

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 (Jsc) and overall photo-electric conversion efficiency (η) 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 TiO2 films. The linear concentration range of absorbance vs. concentration of N719 was between 6.25 × 10−6 mol . L−1 and 1 × 10−4 mol . L−1 with the molar extinction coefficient (e) 1.58 × 104 L . mol−1cm−1 at a wavelength of 533 ~ 531 nm and 1.50 × 104 L . mol−1 . cm−1 at a wavelength of 393 ~ 384 nm , accordingly. The linear concentration range of the N3 dye was 6.25 × 10−6 mol . L−1 to 1.5 × 10−4 mol . L−1 with e of 1.47 × 104 L . mol−1 . cm−1 at a wavelength of 538 ~ 535 nm and 1.48 × 104 L . mol−1 . cm−1 at a wavelength of 399 ~ 393 nm.