Ferrocenyl-2-pyridylimine derived d(10)-configuration complexes as prospective co-sensitizers in dye sensitized solar cells

Three complexes comprising ferrocenyl-2-pyridylimine and three d(10) transition metal centers viz. Zn (II), Cd (II), and Hg (II) having formula [M (FcCH=NCH2(2-py)] (M = Zn (II) (Zn-Fc), Cd (II) (Cd-Fc), and Hg (II) (Hg-Fc); Fc = Ferrocene) are synthesized and their characterization have been done using microanalytical technique, FT-IR and NMR spectroscopic methods. The optimized molecular geometries for all the three ferrocene-based complexes revealed that the coordination geometries around the d(10)-metal centers are distorted tetrahedral. The application of these complexes as sensitizers and co-sensitizers/co-adsorbents have been assessed in dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Amid the three co-sensitizers/co-adsorbent based the DSSC set-ups, the assembly fabricated using Zn-Fc/N719 displayed superior performance with 5.71 +/- 0.04% efficiency (eta) indicating enhancement in the DSSC performance than to the set-up constructed using solely N719 (eta = 4.20 +/- 0.05%).