Review: The conversion of sunlight into electricity can be achieved using a solar cell and is one of the most attractive future soruce of energy. Silicon‐based cells, while quite efficient, are difficult and expensive to produce, a fact that drives up the cost of electricity produced using them. The alternative, organic‐based cells (see Figure) have the potential advantages of ease of processing and cheapness if their efficiency can be brought up to reasonable levels. Recent progress made and future targets in this field are reviewed.

The singlet oxygen luminescence method and the photochemical methods using 1,3-diphenylisobenzofuran ( DPBF ) or bilirubin ditaurate ( BDT ) as chemical quenchers were employed to determine the single oxygen quantum yields (ΦΔ) of different phthalocyanines and tris(2,2″-bipyridyl)ruthenium(II) dichloride in dimethylformamide ( DMF ) or aqueous micellar solution of 0.1 M CTAC (cetyltrimethylammonium chloride). Additionally, a perylenetetracarboxylic acid diimide derivative was examined in DMF . In a series of tetrasulfonated phthalocyanines ( PTS ) the following order was found: ZnPTS > GaPTS > AlPTS ≈ H 2 PTS > CoPTS . In general, the singlet oxygen quantum yields are higher in DMF than in 0.1 M CTAC/H 2 O . The results obtained with the photochemical systems are comparable with those obtained by the photophysical method. The photochemical DPBF method results in absolute values of ΦΔ. However, in micellar solution, chain reactions occur when DPBF is used as chemical quencher in the photo-oxidative process. This problem can be overcome by adding sodium thiosulphate which is able to destroy the endoperoxide initially formed. BDT can be used as quencher in different solvents to determine ΦΔ relative to a photosensitizer with known singlet oxygen quantum yield in the respective solvent. In comparison to the chemical methods the luminescence method exhibits the advantage that side reactions of the quencher are excluded. But normally the ΦΔ values obtained are relative to a reference, since absolute determinations need much larger efforts.

Electrodeposition of inorganic compound thin films in the presence of certain organic molecules results in self‐assembly of various hybrid thin films with new properties. Examples of new discoveries by the authors are reviewed, taking cathodic formation of a ZnO/dye hybrid as the leading example. Hybridization of eosinY leads to the formation of highly oriented porous crystalline ZnO as the consequence of dye loading. The hybrid formation is a highly complicated process involving complex chemistry of many molecular and ionic constituents. However, electrochemical analyses of the relevant phenomena indicate the possibility of reaching a comprehensive understanding of the mechanism, giving us the chance to further develop them into industrial technologies. The porous crystals are ideal for photoelectrodes in dye‐sensitized solar cells. As the process also permits the use of non‐heat‐resistant substrates, the technology can be applied for the development of colorful and light‐weight plastic solar cells.

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The generation of chemically activated glass surfaces is of increasing interest for the production of microarrays containing DNA, proteins, and low-molecular-weight components. We here report on a novel surface chemistry for highly efficient activation of glass slides. Our method is based on the initial modification of glass with primary amino groups using a protocol, specifically optimized for high aminosilylation yields, and in particular, for homogeneous surface coverages. In a following step the surface amino groups are activated with a homobifunctional linker, such as disuccinimidylglutarate (DSG) or 1,4-phenylenediisothiocyanate (PDITC), and then allowed to react with a starburst dendrimer that contains 64 primary amino groups in its outer sphere. Subsequently, the dendritic monomers are activated and crosslinked with a homobifunctional spacer, either DSG or PDITC. This leads to the formation of a thin, chemically reactive polymer film, covalently affixed to the glass substrate, which can directly be used for the covalent attachment of amino-modified components, such as oligonucleotides. The resulting DNA microarrays were studied by means of nucleic acid hybridization experiments using fluorophor-labeled complementary oligonucleotide targets. The results indicate that the novel dendrimer-activated surfaces display a surface coverage with capture oligomers about twofold greater than that with conventional microarrays containing linear chemical linkers. In addition, the experiments suggest that the hybridization occurs with decreased steric hindrance, likely a consequence of the long, flexible linker chain between the surface and the DNA oligomer. The surfaces were found to be resistant against repeated alkaline regeneration procedures, which is likely a consequence of the crosslinked polymeric structure of the dendrimer film. The high stability allows multiple hybridization experiments without significant loss of signal intensity. The versatility of the dendrimer surfaces is also demonstrated by the covalent immobilization of streptavidin as a model protein.