Modeling Ruthenium-Dye-Sensitized TiO2 Surfaces Exposing the (001) or (101) Faces: A First-Principles Investigation

We present a first-principles computational investigation on the adsorption mode and electronic structure of the highly efficient heteroleptic ruthenium dye C101, [NaRu(4,4′-bis(5-hexylthiophene-2-yl)-2,2′-bipyridine)(4-carboxylic acid-4′-carboxylate-2,2′-bipyridine)(NCS)2], on anatase TiO2 models exposing the (001) and (101) surfaces. The electronic structure of the TiO2 models shows a conduction band energy upshift for the (001)-surface ranging between ∼50 and ∼110 meV compared with the (101) surface, in agreement with previous interfacial impedance and recent spectro-electrochemical data. TDDFT excited-state calculations provided the same optical band gap, within 0.01 eV, for the (001)- and (101) models. Two dominant adsorption modes for C101 dye adsorption on the (001) and (101) surfaces were found, which differ by the binding of the dye carboxylic groups to the TiO2 surfaces (bridged bidentate vs monodentate), leading to sizably different tilting of the anchoring bipyridine plane with respect to the ...

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