| AVS 60th International Symposium and Exhibition | |
| Biomaterial Interfaces | Wednesday Sessions |
| Session BI+AI+AS+BA+IA+NL+NS+SP-WeA |
| Session: | Characterization of Biointerfaces |
| Presenter: | H.K. Wayment-Steele, Pomona College |
| Authors: | H.K. Wayment-Steele, Pomona College L.E. Johnson, Pomona College M.P. Dixon, Biolin Scientific M.S. Johal, Pomona College |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Understanding the kinetics of dye adsorption on semiconductors is crucial for designing dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) with enhanced efficiency. Harms et al. (2012) have recently demonstrated the applications of QCM-D to show in-situ dye adsorption on flat TiO2 surfaces. QCM-D provides adsorption measurements in real time and therefore determination of the kinetics of the process. In this work, we examine reversible, non-covalent binding of N3, a commercial RuBipy dye, using the native oxide layer of a titanium sensor to simulate the TiO2 substrate of a DSSC. To isolate the weak binding mode, we deactivated the carboxylate groups of N3 by forming methyl esters, thus disabling chelation to TiO2. Improved understanding of the weak binding mode provides insight into dye aggregation and the relative contributions of chelation versus non-covalent processes.