Investigation of the regeneration kinetics of organic dyes with pyridine ring anchoring groups by scanning electrochemical microscopy

Abstract

This work reports on a study of regeneration kinetics of organic dyes with pyridine ring group sensitized NiO electrodes in combination with iodide-based and organic thiolate-based electrolytes by scanning electrochemical microscopy (SCEM) with a feedback model. These dyes have showed promising performance in p-type dye-sensitized solar cells. The investigation reveals that the anchoring group affects the effective rate constant, showing an efficient dye-regeneration process for the dye with carboxylic acid anchoring groups. Meanwhile, it is worth noting that the regeneration process between the reduced dye and the oxidized state of the thiolate-based electrolyte is much faster than that of the iodide-based electrolyte.