Impact of dithiol treatment and air annealing on the conductivity, mobility, and hole density in PbS colloidal quantum dot solids

Crosslinking molecules have recently been combined with colloidal quantum dots to build robust, closely packed, conductive solid-state devices. Ethanedithiol (EDT) has been used in PbS quantum dot photovoltaic devices to assist in film formation during fabrication. However, there is evidence that EDT influences the electronic properties of the colloidal quantum dot (CQD) films. We fabricate thin film field-effect transistors and find that EDT treatment increases the majority carrier mobility by a factor of 10. We attribute this increase to a reduction in interparticle spacing which we observe using transmission electron microscopy. However, this increase is accompanied by a decrease in the majority carrier concentration. Using x-ray photoelectron microscopy, we find that EDT reduces the extent of the surface oxidation which is acting as a p-type dopant in these materials. We find that by lightly reoxidizing, we can redope the CQD films and can do so without sacrificing mobility gains.