Linker-assisted assembly and interfacial electron-transfer reactivity of Quantum dot-substrate architectures

Bifunctional molecules can be used to tether quantum dots to nanostructured and planar semiconductor and metal surfaces. Excited-state interfacial electron-transfer reactions at QD-molecule-substrate interfaces are of interest from a fundamental standpoint and may have applications in solar energy conversion and charge-transfer-based sensing. This Perspective highlights recent work and unanswered questions in two related areas, the linker-assisted assembly of QD-substrate architectures and the spectroscopic characterization of electron transfer at QD-molecule-substrate interfaces.