Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Fabrication

All the dyes were synthesized according to the previously published procedures [20 (link)]. The dyes purity was determined to be at least 97% by HPLC. All the other chemicals were of sufficient grade and used without further purification. Acetic acid, acetone, and anhydrous EtOH were obtained from Avantor Performance Materials (Gliwice, Poland), anhydrous acetonitrile and HPLC grade DCM from Sigma Aldrich (St. Louis, MO, USA), and anhydrous THF from Acros Organics (Fair Lawn, NJ, USA). 1-methyl-3-propylimidazolium iodide, lithium iodide, iodine, 4-tert-butylpyridine, titanium(IV) chloride, hexachloroplatinic acid, α-terpineol, ethylcellulose, and CDCA were received from Sigma Aldrich, while tetrabutylammonium hexafluorophosphate was from TCI Chemicals (Tokyo, Japan). TCO22-7 FTO glass substrates were obtained from Solaronix, P25 Aeroxide titania nanopowder from Evonik (Essen, Germany).