Self-assembly and photoelectric properties of cerium complexes with 3,4,9,10-perylenetetracarboxylic acid on nanocrystalline TiO2 films

Self-assembled (SA) films (PMP, M = Ce3+ or Ce4+) of 3,4,9,10-perylenetetra carboxylic acid (PTA) on nanocrystalline TiO2 films with Ce3+ or Ce4+ as a bridge were fabricated and characterized with UV-Vis, IR, and XPS synchrotr on radiation photoelectron spectroscopy (SRPES) which gave the HOMO energy levels for the SA films. It was shown that thin-layer sandwich-type solar c ells based on these SA films possess good properties for photoelectric conv ersion. While PTA-loaded TiO2 electrode (P) generated 26.9% of incident mon ochromatic photon-to-electron conversion efficiency (IPCE), PMP-sensitized TiO2 electrodes yielded 55.8% and 39.1% for Ce4+ and Ce3+ respectively. PMP films can be considered as a kind of complexes whose HOMO energy levels we re proved to be higher than that of film P, which is one of the major reaso ns for the increase in IPCE from film P to film PMP.