A series of ruthenium (II) polypyridyl complexes, with novel silane functionalisation,[Ru (bipy) 2 (bipy-sil)](PF6) 2 (3),[Ru (bipy-sil) 2Cl2](6), and [Ru (bipy-sil) 2 (NCS) 2](7) have been synthesised and tested as chromophores (dyes) in TiO2 and WO3 based dye- sensitised solar cells (DSSCs). The performance of the respective DSSCs were compared to analogous dyes with ionic carboxylate ([Ru (bipy) 2 (dcbipy)](PF6) 2 (1),[Ru (dcbipy) 2Cl2] ...