Electroactive surfactant designed to mediate electron transfer between CdSe nanocrystals and organic semiconductors

An electroactive pentathiophene surfactant containing a phosphonic acid head group was designed and shown to provide strong binding to the surface of a CdSe nanocrystal and facilitate charge transfer between the nanocrystal and an organic semiconducting matrix (see Figure). Incorporation into organic-inorganic heterojunction solar cells could improve the efficiency of these promising devices.