Dye sensitization of synthetic p-type diamond electrode

Abstract

A synthetic semiconductive p-type diamond electrode was photosensitized by the Ru(bpy)₃²⁺ molecule in an electrolyte solution. The photoexcited molecule injects a hole into the valence band. However, under a certain potential, charge recombination occurred through interband states; the hole on the top of the valence band recombined with the photoreduced Ru(bpy)₃¹⁺. The mechanism of this charge recombination was studied by measuring the transient photopotential and the intrinsic sub-band gap photoresponse of the electrode.