title: Effect of hydrocarbon chain length of amphiphilic ruthenium dyes on solid-state dye-sensitized photovoltaics.
abstract: We studied the influence of the hydrophobic hydrocarbon chain length of amphiphilic ruthenium dyes on the device performance in solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells. We found that the dyes with longer hydrocarbon chains gave higher efficiency values when used as a sensitizer in solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells. With increasing chain length, we observed higher currents and open-circuit voltages up to a limiting chain length. We attribute this improvement to the expected larger distance between TiO2 and the hole conductor, which seems to suppress recombination effectively.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Photonics and Interfaces, Institute of Chemical Science and Engineering, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland. ljs38@cam.ac.uk
authors.forename: Lukas
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Schmidt-Mende
authors.forename: Jessica E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Kroeze
authors.forename: James R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Durrant
authors.forename: M K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Nazeeruddin
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Grätzel
mesh_terms: D004553:Electric Conductivity; D011211:Electric Power Supplies; D004563:Electrochemistry / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D006838:Hydrocarbons / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry*; D008027:Light; D008422:Materials Testing; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000528:radiation effects; D010777:Photochemistry / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D017975:Ruthenium Compounds / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000528:radiation effects; D014025:Titanium / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D006838:Hydrocarbons; D017975:Ruthenium Compounds; C009495:titanium dioxide; D014025:Titanium