Two zinc(II)- and two ruthenium(II) containing pi-conjugated metallo-polymers were synthesized and characterized in detail. We could prove by SEC, analytical ultracentrifugation (AUC) and viscosimetry the ruthenium(II) metallo-polymers to be high molar mass materials (M-fs = 20 000 g . mol(-1) Ru1-2; M-fs = 34 000 g mol(-1) Ru1) exhibiting intrinsic viscosities of up to [eta] = 192 cm(3) . g(-1). Applying spin-coating we produced homogeneous films of the polymers and could, subsequently, investigate the photophysical properties in the solid state. Introducing the Ru(II) metallo-polymers mixed with PCBM[60] as photoactive layer in bulk-heterojunction solar cells resulted in very low efficiencies due to morphology problems.