Can Tauc plot extrapolation be used for direct-band-gap semiconductor nanocrystals?

Despite that Tauc plot extrapolation has been widely adopted for extracting bandgap energies of semiconductors, there is a lack of theoretical support for applying it to nanocrystals. In this paper, direct-allowed optical transitions in semiconductor nanocrystals have been formulated based on a purely theoretical approach. This result reveals a size-dependant transition of the power factor used in Tauc plot, increasing from one half used in the 3D bulk case to one in the 0D case. This size-dependant intermediate value of power factor allows a better extrapolation of measured absorption data. Being a material characterization technique, the generalized Tauc extrapolation gives a more reasonable and accurate acquisition of the intrinsic bandgap, while the unjustified purpose of extrapolating any elevated bandgap caused by quantum confinement is shown to be incorrect. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.