Functionalized styryl bipyridine as a superior chelate for a ruthenium sensitizer in dye sensitized solar cells

The new sensitizer MC119 has been synthesized and the solar cell constructed with 0.25 cm2 active area photoelectrode in combination with an electrolyte composed of 0.6 M dimethylpropyl-imidazolium iodide (DMPII), 0.05 M I2, 0.5 M TBP and 0.1 M LiI in acetonitrile achieved a solar to electric energy conversion efficiency (η) of 8.36% under Air Mass (AM) 1.5 sunlight, while the reference N719 sensitized solar cell exhibited η-value of 7.2%.