Patent ID: 8115232

Claim:
A nanocomposite layered device, comprising: a three-dimensional bicontinuous heterostructure including at least two materials with a first material formed on a substrate so that a surface of the first material completely covers a surface of the substrate, a second material located on the first material, said first and second materials each having a structure and morphology that includes protrusions with substantially no islands, the first material and the second material each being spatially continuous, the protrusions from said first material penetrate into said second material and said protrusions from said second material penetrate into said first material to form an irregular interpenetrating interface between said first and second materials, the protrusions from the first material being opposite the surface of the first material that completely covers the surface of the substrate; at least one of said first and second materials includes at least one of a plurality of visible-light absorbing semiconducting quantum dot nanoparticles and/or at least one of a plurality of infrared-light absorbing semiconducting quantum dot nanoparticles; and wherein upon absorption of light by said visible and/or infrared-absorbing quantum dot nanoparticles, an electron-hole pair is formed which drifts to said interpenetrating interface wherein said the electron-hole pair is separated.