Patent ID: 8288649

Claim:
A solar cell comprising: an electron conductor layer; a quantum dot layer comprising a plurality of quantum dots; a bifunctional ligand layer coupled to the electron conductor layer and to the quantum dot layer, the bifunctional ligand layer comprising a plurality of bifunctional ligands, at least some of the bifunctional ligands having an electron conductor anchor including a first phosphonic acid moiety and a quantum dot anchor including a second phosphonic acid moiety, the first phosphonic acid moiety and the second phosphonic acid moiety each having a structure selected from: H 2 PO 3 â€”Râ€”PO 3 H 2 , H 2 PO 3 â€”Arâ€”PO 3 H 2 or H 2 Nâ€”Arâ€”PO 3 H 2 , where R is alkyl or hydroxyalkyl and Ar is aromatic; and a hole conductor layer coupled to the quantum dot layer.