Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 February 2011
Surface effects significantly influence the functionality of semiconductor nanocrystals. A theoretical understanding of these surface effects requires models capable of describing surface details at an atomic scale, passivation with molecular ligands, and few-monolayer capping shells. We present an atomistic tight-binding theory of the electronic structure and optical properties of passivated, unpassivated and core/shell nanocrystals to study these surface effects.