The electrochemistry of colloidal semiconductor particles - Part 1: Theory.

The distribution of majority carriers in a collection of colloidal semiconductor particles is calculated. The kinetics of electron transfer from such particles to a macroscopic electrode are considered. Although each particle may have hundreds of electrons, the kinetics are shown to obey the simple equations of classical electrochemistry such as the Tafel relation. The effect of illuminating the particles and photogenerating majority carriers is also considered.