Structure and photoelectrochemical properties of nanostructured SnO2 electrodes deposited electrophoretically with the composite clusters of porphyrin-modified gold nanoparticle with a long spacer and fullerene

Structure and photoelectrochemical properties of nanostructured SnO2 electrodes deposited electrophoretically with the composite clusters of porphyrin-modified gold nanoparticle with a long, flexible spacer and C60 molecules have been examined to obtain basic information on the development of organic solar cells with a high performance. The photoelectrochemical system with the long, flexible spacer between the porphyrin and the gold nanoparticle in the porphyrin-modified gold nanoparticle exhibited comparable external quantum yield in the UV–vis regions relative to porphyrin-modified gold nanoparticle with a relatively short spacer—C60 composite reference system. These results demonstrate that a suitable spacer to incorporate C60 molecules efficiently between the porphyrins in porphyrin-modified gold nanoparticles is a prerequisite for improving the performance of porphyrin and fullerene-based organic solar cells.