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Copyright 2004 by Marcel Dekker, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Copyright 2004 by Marcel Dekker, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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size allows the electron affinity and ionization potential of the nanocrystal tobe tuned, which may, in principle, affect the rate of charge transfer. Inpractice, though, disorder and surface trap states are very important andmay dominate the charge transport properties of nanocrystalline systems. Wewill discuss some of the theory relevant to charge transport and chargetransfer in nanocrystalline systems in Section II.One of the major motivations for the study of nanocrystals is thepossibility that they may be useful in device applications. Some of the deviceswhich have been demonstrated in the laboratory include light-emitting diodes(LEDs) [1–4], photovoltaic devices [5,6], and single-electron transistors [7].For large-area applications such as LEDs and photovoltaics, nanocrystalshave the advantages of being processable from solution and having sizetunableabsorption and emission. Despite these advantages, nanocrystalshave not yet found their way into commercial devices and we will discuss theprospects for improvements in performance which may make commercialapplications more likely.In order to illustrate some of the charge transport and charge transferprocesses important in nanocrystal-based devices, we will briefly introducethe method of operation of LEDs and photodiodes. The simplest device inwhich light emission can occur is a thin film of nanocrystals sandwichedbetween metal electrodes, as illustrated in Fig. 1. One of the electrodes must besemitransparent; hence, indium–tin oxide (ITO) is typically used as the anode.When a positive voltage is applied to the anode, holes are injected from theanode and electrons from the cathode. These carriers can then move throughthe device under the action of the applied field <strong>by</strong> hopping from nanocrystal tonanocrystal. When an electron and hole arrive on the same nanocrystal, anexciton can be formed, which can then decay radiatively giving emission at anenergy characteristic of the size of the nanocrystal. We have found that thisFigure 1 Schematic representation of a typical structure for electrical characterizationof nanocrystalline films.<strong>Copyright</strong> <strong>2004</strong> <strong>by</strong> <strong>Marcel</strong> <strong>Dekker</strong>, <strong>Inc</strong>. <strong>All</strong> <strong>Rights</strong> <strong>Reserved</strong>.

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