Rational Ligand Design for Charge Transfer in Quantum Dots

Abstract

Solar energy stands out as an extremely promising candidate to meet the need for renewable energy due to its abundance in availability and the capability of application in multiple scenarios. This work aims to push the development of renewable energy by the use of nanoparticles. Nanoparticles are very small materials (1-100 nm) which show unique properties in comparison to bulk, including very catalytic surfaces and large absorption coefficients. These particles are covered in organic ligands which either hinder or aid the movement of charges into and out of the material. By designing ligands which are tailored for specific applications greater utility can be gleaned from these particles. This includes new ligands which perform charge extraction from the nanoparticles into attached metal centers, and new methods of ligand treatment during the application of device fabrication of solar cells. Other studies towards utilizing light for ligand cleavage and designing new ligand-systems for PbS were also performed and are discussed. The importance of collaboration is highlighted throughout as cooperative studies involving specialists in computation, spectroscopy, and device fabrication are consulted to study systems and provide applications.