PbS colloidal quantum dots for near-infrared optoelectronics

Colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) are tiny nanoparticles of semiconducting materials, which are widely studied in a variety of devices such as solar cells, light detectors, light-emitting diodes and transistors. Among their advantages are the ease and low cost of obtaining the material and that the thin films for device fabrication can be deposited by scalable solution-processable techniques.
This thesis describes the effect of the CQD’s composition and surface-bound chemical species on their physical properties. Furthermore, it shows a strategy to obtain highly stable solutions of CQDs, without which feasible industrialization will be impossible. It concludes with the fabrication of an unprecedently efficient light-emitting field-effect transistor in the near-infrared spectral region.