Synthesis and Characterization of Novel Heteroleptic Ruthenium Complexes for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

We report three novel heteroleptic ruthenium complexes, RD1: Ru[(dcbpy)(1-methyl-2-(pyridin2-yl)-1 H-benzimidazole)(NCS)(2), RD2: Ru [(dcbpy) (2-(pyridine-2-yl) benzothiazole) (NCS)(2), and RD3: Ru[(dcbpy)(2-(pyridin-2-yl) benzoxazole) (NCS)2, for dye-sensitized solar cell applications. We found that RD1 exhibits a dye loading amount two times higher than that of N719, which gives a broad IPCE action spectrum for the spectral response beyond 800 nm. This series of dyes can be easily synthesized in three steps with the best dye (RD1) reaching 80% cell performance of N719.