Coulomb blockade of electron transport in a ZnO quantum-dot solid

Abstract
The temperature dependence of electron transport was studied in an assembly of ZnO quantum dots. The number of electrons per quantum dot was controlled by the electrochemical potential. For assemblies permeated with organic electrolyte solutions, the electron conductance measured in the linear response regime shows an activation energy of 80–120 meV. Our analysis indicates that this is due to Coulomb blockade of electron transport.