Abstract: | The complex Ru(II)(dcbpyH2)(bdmpp)NCS](PF6) (1) (where dcbpyH2 is 2,2′-bipyridine-4,4′-dicarboxylic acid, bdmpp is 2,6-bis(3,5-dimethyl-N-pyrazoyl)pyridine,) is synthesized and characterized extensively by 1H NMR and 13C NMR 1D and 2D, mass spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry, electronic absorption spectroscopy and IR. The half-wave potential of the Ru(II)/Ru(III) redox couple was measured at E1/2=+0.795 V versus Ag/AgCl in CH3CN. The complex presents three intense metal-to-ligand charge transfer (MLCT) (dM→πL*) absorption bands centered at 383 (=21 300 M−1 cm−1), 432 (=22 400 M−1 cm−1) and 475 nm (=23 400 M−1 cm−1), respectively. The absorbance is extremely strong between 400 and 500 nm and even at 620 nm, the extinction coefficient is still high (=3768 M−1 cm−1). The strong π-acceptor property of the trans-isothiocyanate ligand compared with the Cl− ligand is probably the cause of the blue-shift observed in complex 1. These properties make the complex potentially promising for the photosensitization process. The incorporation of TiO2 photoelectrodes derivatized with this complex into a solar cell using a composite polymer/inorganic oxide solid-state electrolyte confirmed its sensitizing ability. Incident monochromatic photon-to-current conversion efficiency (IPCE) values of about 30% and overall energy conversion efficiency (η) of 1.7% were obtained. |