The influence of anchoring group position in ruthenium dye molecule on performance of dye-sensitized solar cells

The effect of anchoring group position and, in consequence, the orientation of the ruthenium dye molecule onto titania surface on performance of dye-sensitized solar cells have been studied intensively. Three model ruthenium sensitizing dyes bearing carboxylic anchoring group in ortho, meta or para position have been thus synthesized and well characterized by spectroscopic, electrochemical, photophysical and photochemical measurements. Moreover, the theoretical calculations have been done to support our experimental results and discussion of observed phenomena. The para derivative has been found as the most effective sensitizer with the cells efficiency twice higher than the meta and four times higher than the ortho derivatives.