Titanium-containing zeolites and microporous molecular sieves as photovoltaic solar cells

Four titanium-containing zeolites and microporous molecular sieves differing on the crystal structure and particle size (Ti/Beta, Ti/Beta-60, TS-1 and ETS-10) are prepared, and their activity for solar cells after incorporating N3 (a commercially available ruthenium polypyridyl dye) is tested. All the zeolites exhibit photovoltaic activity, and the photoresponse is quite independent of the zeolite pore dimensions or particle size. The photoresponse increases with titanium containt in the range 1-7% wt. In this way, cells are obtained that have open-circuit voltage V-oc = 560 mV and maximum short-circuit photocurrent density I-sc = 100 mu A, measured for 1 x 1 cm(2) surfaces with a solar simulator at 1000 W through and AM 1.5 filter. These values are promising and comparable to those obtained for current dye-sensitized titania solar cells.