Semiconductor nanocrystals exhibit strong quantum sized
effects. They may prove to be important building blocks for solar cells that
exploit quantum effects explicitly. While quantum effects can easily be used to
control the initial events of light absorption and possibly the earliest events
of electron relaxation, the issue of facile transport in nanocrystals solar
cells remains as a problem. This talk will describe two limiting types of
nanocrystal solar cells, distinguished by the relationship between the size of
the nanocrystals and the bulk exciton diameter. In the case where the
nanocrystal is very much smaller than the bulk exciton, it is possible to make
an ordered array of the nanocrystals and to investigate the possibility that
mini-bands form when the particles are placed in the array. In that case, the
transport between the particles may be facile. In the second case, all the
elements of the solar cell can be built into a single nanocrystal, so that the
charges need not hop between nanocrystals in order to be harvested. Practical
examples of these two types of solar cells will be discussed.