Rehybridization of electronic structure in compressed two-dimensional quantum dot superlattices

Two-dimensional superlattices of organically passivated 2.6-nm silver quantum dots were prepared as Langmuir monolayers and transferred to highly oriented pyrolytic graphite substrates. The structural and electronic properties of the films were probed with variable temperature scanning tunneling microscopy. Particles passivated with decanethiol (interparticle separation distance of ∼1.1±0.2 nm) exhibited Coulomb blockade and staircase. For particles passivated with hexanethiol or pentanethiol (interparticle separation distance of ∼0.5±0.2 nm), the single-electron charging was quenched, and the redistribution of the density of states revealed that strong quantum mechanical exchange, i.e., wave-function hybridization, existed among the particles in these films.