Comparison of electron injection dynamics from re-bipyridyl complexes to TiO2 nanocrystalline thin films in different solvent environments

Factors that control photoinduced interfacial electron transfer (ET) between molecular adsorbates and semiconductor nanoparticles have been intensely investigated in recent years. In this work, the solvent dependence of interfacial ET was studied by comparing ET rates in dye sensitized TiO2 nanocrystalline films in different solvent environments. Photoinduced ET rates from Re(LA)(CO)3Cl LA=dcbpy=4,4'-dicarboxy-2,2'-bipyridine] (ReC1A) to TiO2 nanocrystalline thin films in air, pH buffer, MeOH, EtOH, and DMF were measured by femtosecond transient IR spectroscopy. The ET rates in these solvent environments were noticeably different. However, differences between the rates in pH buffer and nonaqueous solvents (MeOH, EtOH, and DMF) were much smaller than the values expected from much more negative TiO2 conduction band-edge positions in the latter solvents under anhydrous conditions. It was suggested that the presence of adsorbed water, which was evident in FTIR spectra, lowered the band edge of TiO2 in these solvents and reduced the rate differences. The important effect of adsorbed water was verified by comparing two samples of Re(LP)(CO)3Cl LP=2,2'-bipyridine-4,4'-bis-CH2PO(OH)2] sensitized TiO2 in DMF, in which the presence of a trace amount of water was found to significantly increase the injection rate.