Semiconductor Quantum Dots (QDs) have great potential in applications for renewable energy generation due to their size-tunable redox potentials. They may be prepared with different morphologies and coated to create complex heterostructures. Doping of semiconductor nanomaterials is another mechanism to realize property tunability, and doped QDs are playing an increasing role in green energy generation applications. In 2013 our group reported a method to create a batch of doped quantum dots where each particle was embedded with the same number of guest ions, thus circumventing Poisson statistics. This was accomplished by nucleating the QD around an organometallic seed cluster that contains guest ions. As a result, each QD has the same number of dopants, which eliminates problems due to inhomogeneity of the guest ion stoichiometry. These materials were studied using time-resolved X-ray absorption spectroscopy, which allows us to characterize the electronic and coordination structure in both the ground and excited states.

Current research reveals the potential to doubly dope semiconductors using cluster seeding, and that the originating organometallic structure may be represented in the final material product. To this end, ZnCdSe nanowires were prepared in the presence of (MnTe)4 cluster seeds. The results reveal that Mn(2+) has been successfully incorporated into the host matrix, while temperature dependent optical measurements suggest significantly enhanced semiconductor exciton-magnetic dopant interactions in materials prepared by cluster seeding compared to doped control samples. This could be due to ferromagnetic Mn-Mn interactions in the host resulting from enhanced exchange coupling mediated by highly spin-orbit coupled tellurium bridging. Consequently, cluster seeding may be used to "dope the dopants", affording a heretofore unrealized method for developing designer materials with enhanced electronic and optical properties.