(Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy)
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have developed a new method to deposit quantum-dot films on corrugated surfaces. The researchers used electrophoretic deposition, which drives the quantum dots through a solution with an electric field toward an electrode with the opposite charge. When they reach that electrode, the quantum dots assemble into a film. Traditionally, quantum dots are made with long organic ligands – molecules that bind to the dots and stabilize them in solution. But after the quantum dots are deposited as a film, those long ligands act as insulators and limit device performance, so they are removed with post-processing. In this study, the researchers made quantum dot films using short ligands, which are more conductive and negate the need for post-processing.
Categories: NNI-NEWS, U.S. Department of Energy
