Abstract A [Ru (dcbpy) 2 (NCS) 2] dye has been chemically modified by the addition of a secondary electron donor moiety, N, N-(di-p-anisylamino) phenoxymethyl. Optical excitation of the modified dye adsorbed to nanocrystalline TiO 2 films shows a remarkably long-lived charge-separated state, with a decay half time of 0.7 s. Semiempirical calculations confirm that the HOMO of the modified dye molecule is localised on the electron donor group. The ...