Photophysics and electron dynamics in dye-sensitized semiconductor film studied by time-resolved mid-IR spectroscopy

Photophysics and electron dynamics in dye-sensitized semiconductor film were studied by transient mid-IR spectroscopy, in particular on the nano- to millisecond time scale. As sensitizers, a Ru complex and 9-phynol xanthane derivatives were used. We simultaneously observed electrons injected into the conduction band of a semiconductor and the change of vibration bands due to formation of a cation of a dye molecule. The transient absorption components derived from these two species decayed differently. From this observation, we found that injected electrons decay through two paths; one was back electron transfer, and the other was decay to deep trap sites that cannot be detected by mid-IR light. We could also estimate the amount of electron injection for different dye-sensitized TiO₂. Our transient mid-IR spectroscopy in long time scale introduces a semi-new approach to the slow dynamics in dye-sensitized semiconductors including back electron transfer.