title: Laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry of dye-sensitized solar cells: identification of the dye-electrolyte interaction.
abstract: Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) have great potential to provide sustainable electricity from sunlight. The photoanode in DSCs consists of a dye-sensitized metal oxide film deposited on a conductive substrate. This configuration makes the photoanode a perfect sample for laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (LDI-MS). We applied LDI-MS for the study of molecular interactions between a dye and electrolyte on the surface of a TiO2 photoanode. We found that a dye containing polyoxyethylene groups forms complexes with alkali metal cations from the electrolyte, while a dye substituted with alkoxy groups does not. Guanidinium ion forms adducts with neither of the two dyes.
authors.affiliation: Physical Chemistry, Centre of Molecular Devices, Department of Chemistry - Ångström Laboratory, Uppsala University, Uppsala, SE-75120, Sweden.
authors.forename: Hanna
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ellis
authors.affiliation: Physical Chemistry, Centre of Molecular Devices, Department of Chemistry - Ångström Laboratory, Uppsala University, Uppsala, SE-75120, Sweden.
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Leandri
authors.affiliation: Physical Chemistry, Centre of Molecular Devices, Department of Chemistry - Ångström Laboratory, Uppsala University, Uppsala, SE-75120, Sweden.|École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Laboratory of Photomolecular Science, Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering, EPFL-FSB-ISIC-LSPM, Station 6, Lausanne, CH-1015, Switzerland.|Center of Excellence for Advanced Materials Research, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, 21589, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Anders
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hagfeldt
authors.affiliation: Physical Chemistry, Centre of Molecular Devices, Department of Chemistry - Ångström Laboratory, Uppsala University, Uppsala, SE-75120, Sweden.
authors.forename: Gerrit
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Boschloo
authors.affiliation: Analytical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry - Biomedical Centre, Uppsala University, P.O. Box 599, Uppsala, SE-75124, Sweden.
authors.forename: Jonas
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bergquist
authors.affiliation: Analytical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry - Biomedical Centre, Uppsala University, P.O. Box 599, Uppsala, SE-75124, Sweden.
authors.forename: Denys
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Shevchenko
keywords: aqueous electrolytes; cyanoacrylic acid-based dyes; dye-sensitized solar cells; laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry; polyether chains