Optoelectronic Properties of Natural Cyanin Dyes

An integrated theoretical/experimental study of the natural cyanin dye is presented in terms of its structural and optoelectronic properties for different gas-phase and prototypical device configurations. Our microscopic analysis reveals the impact of hydration and hydroxylation reactions, as well as of the attached sugar, on ground and optically excited states, and it illustrates the visible-light harvesting capability of the dye. Our optical experiments at different and controlled pH concentrations allow for a direct comparison with theoretical results. We analyze the many different contributions to photocurrent of the various portions of a prototypical device and, as a proof of principle, we propose the addition of specific ligands to control the increase of the photocurrent yield in the cyanin-based electrochemical device.