Layered γ-Zirconium Phosphate Intercalated with Ru(bpy)3-Viologen Dyads as Unusual Materials for Dye-Sensitised Solar Cells: Improving Efficiency by Double Sensitisation

The intercalation materials prepared from the laminar salt γ-zirconium phosphate and various dyads formed from Ru(bpy)3 and viologens were tested as photoactive components in dye-sensitised solar cells. The efficiencies significantly increased, up to 0.2 %, when the materials were treated with the panchromatic N535 dye. A mechanism for this double sensitisation process is proposed, which should enable further improvement of these γ-ZrP-based materials as a reasonable alternative to the usual Ti-based dye-sensitised solar cells.