Synthesis and Evaluation of Photoactive Pyridine Complexes for Electron Transfer Studies and Photoelectrochemical Applications

Abstract: In this thesis, the preparation of new photoactive substances containing mono- and bipyridines coordinated to ruthenium is presented together with initial evaluations of their photoelectrochemical and photophysical properties. Complexes of the type Ru(bpy)2(4-X-py)2 (X = SH, COOH) were prepared and used in Grätzel-type solar cells based on ZnO. The results show that the thiol complex binds to the surface but give rather low solar cell efficiencies. Different routes to obtain Ru(bpy)2(4,4´-dithio-2,2´-bipyridine) were evaluated, among them substitution reactions on 4,4´-dichloro-2,2´-bipyridine coordinated to ruthenium. Due to reactivity issues, the target sulphur-containing complex has not yet been obtained.The synthesis of methanofullerenes, fulleropyrrolidines and –pyrazolines are presented, among them dyads containing Ru(bpy)n-units. A common feature for the dyads is the unusually short linkers between the fullerene and the ruthenium complex. Dyad preparations were in some cases simplified by carrying out the reactions in the presence of silver salts.A preliminary evaluation of the emission of the dyads showed almost complete quenching of the excited state of a pyrrolidine-based dyad, whereas emission remained from the pyrazoline-based ones. Whether this was due to incomplete quenching of the excited states of the ruthenium complex, or induced by the presence of hydrazones has yet to be revealed.The use of fullerene-substituted malonic acid and its ethyl ester as dyes in Grätzel-type solar cells resulted in even lower efficiencies (IPCE) than for bare TiO2. This could be due to electron transfer in the reverse direction compared to what is observed for ruthenium complexes. Thus, these fullerene derivatives are not suitable as sensitisers for Grätzel-type solar cells.