Supercrystals of CdSe Quantum Dots with High Charge Mobility and Efficient Electron Transfer to TiO2

• Published in: ACS nano Vol. 4; no. 3; pp. 1723 - 1731
• Main Authors: Talgorn, Elise, Abellon, Ruben D, Kooyman, Patricia J, Piris, Jorge, Savenije, Tom J, Goossens, Albert, Houtepen, Arjan J, Siebbeles, Laurens D. A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Chemical Society 23.03.2010
• Subjects: photoconductivity; quantum dot; supercrystal; annealing; TiO2
• ISSN: 1936-0851; 1936-086X
• DOI: 10.1021/nn901709a

Thermal annealing of thin films of CdSe/CdS core/shell quantum dots induces superordering of the nanocrystals and a significant reduction of the interparticle spacing. This results in a drastic enhancement of the quantum yield for charge carrier photogeneration and the charge carrier mobility. The mobile electrons have a mobility as high as 0.1 cm2/(V·s), which represents an increase of 4 orders of magnitude over non-annealed QD films and exceeds existing literature data on the electron mobility in CdSe quantum dot films. The lifetime of mobile electrons is longer than that of the exciton. A fraction of the mobile electrons gets trapped at levels below the conduction band of the CdSe nanocrystals. These electrons slowly diffuse over 50−300 nm on longer times up to 20 μs and undergo transfer to a TiO2 substrate. The yield for electron injection in TiO2 from both mobile and trapped electrons is found to be >16%.