Composite materials with metal oxide attached to lead chalcogenide nanocrystal quantum dots with linkers

An article comprising:

• a substrate;
• a metal oxide film on the substrate;
• quantum dots selected from PbS, PbSe, and PbTe, said quantum dots having a 1s absorbance peak in an absorbance spectrum of the quantum dots;
• and
• a linker that chemically attaches the quantum dots to the metal oxide film, the linker having the property of preserving the 1s absorbance peak in the absorbance spectrum for the quantum dots attached to the linker, the linker being selected from:
• a linker having the structure A-B-C wherein A is a chemical group suitable for chemical bonding to the metal oxide film, wherein C is a chemical group suitable for chemically bonding to the quantum dot, and wherein B is a rigid or semi-rigid spacer group covalently bonded to A and to C and B comprises 1,4-aryl, 1,3-aryl, benzyl, acetylenyl, 1,4-furanyl, 1,3-furanyl, 1,4-thiophenyl, 1,3-thiophenyl, 1,4-pyrrolyl, 1,3-pyrrolyl, 1,3-pyridenyl, 1,4-pyridenyl, 1,3-cyclopentadienyl, 1,4-cyclopentadienyl, adamantyl, napthalenyl, norbornanyl, norbornenyl, and substituted derivatives thereof,
• a linker having the structure D-E-G wherein D includes silicon, G is —SH, and E is divalent chemical moiety spacer group covalently bonded to D and to G, and
• a linker selected from HOOC—CR2—CH(COOH)(SH) or a carboxylate salt thereof, wherein R is selected from H, alkyl, branched alkyl, cycloalkyl, —F, —Cl, —Br, —I, aryl, substituted aryl, alkenyl, substituted alkynyl, —CN, —OH, —COOH, and COO—.