Photosensitization of nanoporous TiO2 film with porphyrin-linked fullerene

A porphyrin-linked fullerene derivative, which included COOH groups in its fullerene unit, Por-C60(COOH) was synthesized in order to investigate the possibility of promoting the photosensitization of TiO2. Por-C60(COOH) molecules produced higher photocurrent per molecule than tetrakis(4-carboxyphenyl)-porphyrin molecules. A dye-sensitized solar cell using Por-C60(COOH), in which a C60 unit was introduced between the porphyrin unit and TiO2, yielded an improvement in energy conversion for light collection.