Low-temperature annealing for highly conductive lead chalcogenide quantum dot solids

Electrical conductivity in quantum dot solids is crucial for application in devices. In addition to the well-known ligand exchange strategies for enhanced conductivity, the current study examined the optical, structural, and electrical properties of ethanedithiol-treated layer-by-layer (LbL) assembled quantum dot solid (QDS) films following low-temperature annealing (room temperature to 170 °C). As the annealing temperature increased, it was induced that the average separation between nanocrystal quantum dots is decreased, and accordingly, the overall conductivity of the QDS increased exponentially. From a simplified percolation model, the activation energy of temperature-dependent quantum dot attachment was estimated to be around 0.26-0.27 eV both for PbS and PbSe quantum dot solids. Furthermore, the results of this study indicated that device applications requiring higher conductivity, attainable through high-temperature annealing, may also require repassivation after annealing.