Abstract

The charge-transfer mechanisms from dye to semiconductor nanoparticles and the time scales involved in these processes are a matter of interest for diverse applications, such as dye-sensitized solar cells (DSC) [1] and photocatalysis [2]. In DSC, the primary mechanism encompasses light-induced electron excitation following electron transfer from excited LUMO states of the dye to the conduction band (CB) of the semiconductor. To take place this electron transfer, the semiconductor CB must have a lower energy than the LUMO states of the sensitizer. Titanium dioxide (TiO₂) often meets this requisition and therefore is the most widely semiconductor employed in DSC. Fast electron transfer is mandatory to avoid exciton recombination before charge-transfer and therefore, improve the efficiency of a DSC.

© 2013 IEEE