Electrochemically Generated versus Photoexcited Luminescence from Semiconductor Nanomaterials: Bridging the Valley between Two Worlds

摘要

Colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals or quantum dots (QDs) are monodisperse crystalline clusters with physical dimensions smaller than the bulk-exciton Bohr radius, i.e., the distance in an electron?hole pair.~(1,2) Since the discovery of colloidal semiconductor QDs by Brus and colleagues in Bell Lab in 1983,~(3,4) exponential growth of research interests and activities has been witnessed in this field worldwide in the past three decades. These interests and activities are driven both by the excitement of understanding new science and technology and by the expectation for diversified applications and economic impacts. For example, luminescent QDs have found very promising applications in optoelectronic devices,~(5,6) photovoltaic devices, ~(7?9) and light-emitting diodes.~(10,11)