Kinetics of the Regeneration by Iodide of Dye Sensitizers Adsorbed on Mesoporous Titania

Abstract

Regeneration of dye sensitizer molecules by reducing species contained in the electrolyte is a key mechanism in liquid dye-sensitized solar cells because it competes kinetically with a detrimental charge recombination process. Kinetics of the reduction by iodide ions of the oxidized states (S+) of two RuII complex dyes and four organic π-conjugated bridged donor–acceptor sensitizers were examined as a function of the electrolyte concentration. Results show that two different cases can be distinguished. A sublinear behavior of the regeneration rate and a plateau value reached at high bulk iodide concentrations were found for N820 ruthenium dye and interpreted as being due to an associative interaction involving the formation of (S+, I–)···I– surface complexes prior to the reaction. On the other hand, feeble reaction rates at low electrolyte concentrations and a superlinear behavior are observed predominantly for the organic dyes, pointing to a repulsive interaction between the dyed surface and iodide anion...