Ligand-mediated modification of the electronic structure of CdSe quantum dots.

X-ray absorption spectroscopy and ab initio modeling of the experimental spectra have been used to investigate the effects of surface passivation on the unoccupied electronic states of CdSe quantum dots (QDs). Significant differences are observed in the unoccupied electronic structure of the CdSe QDs, which are shown to arise from variations in specific ligand-surface bonding interactions.