The complete in-gap electronic structure of colloidal quantum dot solids and its correlation with electronic transport and photovoltaic performance.

The direct observation of the complete electronic band structure of a family of PbS CQD solids via photoelectron spectroscopy is reported. We investigate how materials processing strategies, such as the latest passivation methods that produce record-performance photovoltaics, achieve their performance advances. Halide passivated films show a drastic reduction in states in the midgap, contributing to a marked improvement in the device performance.