Crack-free TiO(2) nanotube (NT) membranes were obtained by short time re-anodization of a sintered TiO(2) NT array on Ti foil, followed by dilute HF etching at room temperature. The resulting freestanding TiO(2) membranes were opaque with a slight yellow color having one end open and another end closed. The membranes were then fixed on transparent fluorine-tin-oxide glass using a thin layer of screen-printed TiO(2) nanoparticles (NPs) as a binding medium. It was found that low temperature treatment of the resulting NT/NP film under appropriate pressure before sintering at 450 °C was critical for successful fixation of the NT membrane on the NP layer. The resulting films with open-ends of NT membranes facing the NP layer (open-ends down, OED, configuration) exhibited better interfacial contact between NTs and NPs than those with closed-ends facing the NP layer (closed-ends down, CED, configuration). The cells with an OED configuration exhibit higher external quantum efficiency, greater charge transfer resistance from FTO/TiO(2) to electrolyte, and better dye loading compared to CED configurations. The solar cells with the OED configuration gave 6.1% energy conversion efficiency under AM1.5G condition when the commercial N719 was used as a dye and I(-)/I(3)(-) as a redox couple, showing the promise of this method for high efficiency solar cells.

A new boron dipyrromethene (BODIPY) modified 8-hydroxylquinoline ligand (8-HOQ-BODIPY) is synthesized for the sensitization of near-infrared emission of lanthanide(III) ions. The BODIPY unit, as revealed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis, aligns almost perpendicularly to the 8-HOQ unit. The ligand exhibits strong absorption at ~506 nm and fluorescence at 510 nm in organic solvents with quantum yields ranging from ~0.45 in dichloromethane to 0.015 in ethanol. It forms stable ytterbium(III), erbium(III) and neodymium(III) complexes with 3:1 ligand-to-metal molar ratios. Upon excitation (~522 nm), the neodymium(III) and erbium(III) complexes emit weakly at 1060 and 1382 nm, respectively, whereas the ytterbium(III) complex exhibits strong emission at 976 and 1003 nm. The results demonstrate the potential of BODIPY dyes as efficient and robust visible light sensitizers for lanthanide-based NIR emitters in medical diagnosis.

Novel 8-HOQ-BODIPY-3I was developed as an efficient sensitizer for the near-infrared emission of ytterbium(III) ion at 980 nm under long wavelength excitation.

The 2-(1-acetyl-2-oxopropyl)-5,10,15,20-tetraphenylporphyrin free base (H 2 TPP-AOP) and its transition-metal complexes (MTPP-AOP, M = Cu 2+ , Zn 2+ ) have been synthesized. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that the 1-acetyl-2-oxopropyl (AOP) group is attached to a β-pyrrolic position through the methylene group. The mean plane of the AOP is almost perpendicular to the porphyrin ring. The zinc(II) complex crystallizes as a five-coordinate species with one methanol/water solvate in the axial position, whereas the copper(II) complex is four-coordinate. These compounds exhibit strong absorption in the UV and visible regions. The fluorescence lifetimes are 1.85 and 8.0 ns for the free base

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