This presentation reviews some of our work on novel nanostructured materials and new nanoscale phenomena related to the problem of high-efficiency conversion of solar light into electrical or chemical energy.  One topic of discussion will be the photophysics of new infrared-active nanocrystals such as colloidal germanium quantum dots and composite PbSe/CdSe/CdS nanopartices optimized for producing efficient charge separation, which results in extremely long, tens-of-microsecond carrier lifetimes. I will also describe our work on �active� nanoplasmonic structures, in which we combine semiconductor nanocrystals with nanoscale metals. We use these hybrid structures to exploit plasmonic effects for enhancing the range of excitonic transport and controlling carrier dynamics in semiconductor nanocrystals.  Finally, I will review the status of research on carrier multiplication (multiple exciton generationby single photons) and describe some of the challenges concerning experimental measurements of multiexciton yields and understanding of the mechanisms for multiexciton generation and competing energy relaxation processes.

New aspects of photophysics of semiconductor nanocrystals from the perspective of solar energy conversion

240th National Meeting (2010)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.