Reducing charge trapping in PbS colloidal quantum dot solids

Understanding and improving charge transport in colloidal quantum dot solids is crucial for the development of efficient solar cells based on these materials. In this paper, we report high performance field-effect transistors based on lead-sulfide colloidal quantum dots (PbS CQDs) crosslinked with 3-mercaptopropionic acid (MPA). Electron mobility up to 0.03 cm²/Vs and on/off ratio above 10⁵ was measured; the later value is the highest in the literature for CQD Field effect transistors with silicon-oxide gating. This was achieved by using high quality material and preventing trap generation during fabrication and measurement. We show that air exposure has a reversible p-type doping effect on the devices, and that intrinsically MPA is an n-type dopant for PbS CQDs.