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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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nanocrystals [41], understanding photoinduced charge transfer betweennanocrystals and their environment is of central importance to a completeunderstanding of the photophysics of these colloidal quantum dots.The possible photoinduced interactions between a quantum dot and itssurroundings are determined <strong>by</strong> the relative energy levels of electrons in thedot, on the surface of the dot, and in the surrounding environment (on ligandsor near<strong>by</strong> molecules). These are depicted schematically in Fig. 6. In general,photoinduced electron transfer will be energetically favorable when the offsetbetween the electron affinities (EAs) or ionization potentials (IPs) of ananoparticle and a near<strong>by</strong> molecule is larger than the Coulombic bindingenergy of the excited electron–hole pair. This binding energy can be as large as0.5 eV in organic materials and is on the order of 10–100 meV for colloidalquantum dots, making it important to distinguish between the optical andsingle-particle energy levels when constructing diagrams like that of Fig. 6.Charge transfer is only one of many possible relaxation pathways for aneutral photoexcited state at a quantum-dot interface. Radiative decay, Fo¨r-Figure 6 Energy level diagram comparing the bands of a bulk semiconductorcrystal, the discrete quantum-confined states in a semiconductor nanocrystal, and theenergy levels in a small molecule. In all cases, the electron affinity (EA) is the distancefrom the vacuum level to the lowest unoccupied level, whereas the ionization potential(IP) is the difference between vacuum and the highest occupied level. Any danglingbonds at the surface of the quantum dot may create midgap states that can act aselectron- or hole-accepting traps. In molecular systems, the lowest unoccupiedmolecular orbital and highest unoccupied molecular orbital are denoted LUMO andHOMO respectively.<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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