Publication date: 27th June 2014
Doping is extremely important for controlling the electronic conductivity of bulk semiconductors. However, very few examples exist where impurities that have been incorporated into colloidal semiconductor quantum dots have affected their electronic properties. Here we will discuss the challenges in this area and recent progress. In particular, we will describe the use of arrested cation exchange to lightly dope quantum dots with a controllable number of electronic impurities. The physical characterization of these materials then shows that the addition of even one impurity per quantum dot has a dramatic effect on their optical properties. Furthermore, studies of the electrical transport through films of these quantum dots show complex non-monotonic behavior in the Fermi level as a function of dopant concentration. To explain these trends, we have recently developed a microscopic model of impurity incorporation that is also consistent with the process of cation exchange, which, in addition to doping, is becoming an increasingly important tool for the preparation of new quantum-dot materials.