Novel ruthenium dyes with electron‐ donor antenna groups (triphenyl amine and tetraphenylbenzidine) are developed and applied in solid‐state dye‐ sensitized solar cells. The higher absorption arising from extended conjugation in these dyes leads to efficient light harvesting, which in turn results in higher short‐circuit currents; multistep charge‐transfer cascades take place, very similar to the photosynthetic cascade process (see figure).

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Syntactic foam composites containing 0, 0.9, 1.76, 2.54, 3.54, and 4.5 vol % of E-glass fibers in the form of chopped strands were fabricated and subjected to compression testing. It was found that the compressive strength values generally increased with fiber content except for the 3.54% fiber-bearing cast slab, which recorded lower values. This lone exception was due to the difference in processing route adopted in fabricating this particular fiber-bearing foam. Also noticed was the fact that the compressive strength of the 0.9 vol % fiber-bearing system was lower compared to the fiber-free system. This was correlated to the higher level of void content noticed with this fiber-bearing foam compared to that seen in the unreinforced foam.

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We present a photophysical and device-based investigation of a new bipyridyl-NCS ruthenium complex sensitizer with an extended π system, in both sensitized TiO 2 and incorporated into solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells. We compare this new sensitizer to an analog dye without the extended π system. We observe very similar excited-state absorption spectra and charge recombination kinetics for the two systems. However, the π-extended senstizer has a phenomenally enhanced molar extinction coefficient which translates into far greater light harvesting and current collection in solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells. We also infer from transient photovoltage measurements that positioning the pendent extended π system away from the TiO 2 surface has induced a favorable dipole shift, generating enhanced open-circuit voltage. The resulting power conversion efficiency for the solar cell has been increased from 2.4% to 3.2% when comparing the new sensitizer to an analogy with no pendent group.