Dedoping of Intraband Silver Selenide Colloidal Quantum Dots through Strong Electronic Coupling at Organic/Inorganic Hybrid Interfaces.

Colloidal quantum dot (CQD) infrared (IR) photodetectors can be fabricated and operated with larger spectral tunability, fewer limitations in terms of cooling requirements and substrate lattice matching, and at a potentially lower cost than detectors based on traditional bulk materials. Silver selenide (AgSe) has emerged as a promising sustainable alternative to current state-of-the-art toxic semiconductors based on lead, cadmium, and mercury operating in the IR. However, an impeding gap in available absorption bandwidth for AgSe CQDs exists in the short-wave infrared (SWIR) region due to degenerate doping by the environment, switching the CQDs from intrinsic interband semiconductors in the near-infrared (NIR) to intraband absorbing CQDs in the mid-wave infrared (MWIR).