Figure 4: Structure and charge carrier properties of CdTe QDs and cation-exchanged Hg_xCd_1−xTe QDs.

(a) Schematic illustrations of CdTe QDs, homogeneous alloy Hg_xCd_1−xTe QDs, or core–shell CdTe/HgTe QDs generated through Cd²⁺ replacement by Hg²⁺. (b) Energy band diagrams showing the valence and conduction bands (grey), potential energy wells (black lines) and quantum-confined kinetic energy levels (red lines) of electrons and holes in each QD, as calculated using the effective mass approximation. (c,d) RDF (, nm⁻¹) plots of the electron (e) and hole (h) for the 1st and 2nd excitons. Wavefunction overlap integrals (φ) are also provided. Constructive overlap is schematically depicted as green and destructive overlap is black.