Improved Sensitization of Zinc Oxide Nanorods by Cadmium Telluride Quantum Dots through Charge Induced Hydrophilic Surface Generation

Figure 6

Schematic of change in attachment scheme and charge transfer efficiency of CdTe QDs on UV-annealed and air-annealed ZnO NR PE surfaces illustrating (a) CdTe attachment sites concentrated mainly on the upper surface of annealed ZnO NRs showing binding through the carboxylic end of 3-MPA; (b) change in charge transfer efficiency after UV annealing in ambient air as a result of uniform distribution of defect sites leading to an increase in the active surface area for the NRs, along with enhanced exposure of CdTe QD core to ZnO NR surface.

(a)

(b)