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Networks of ligand-free semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs) offer a valuablecombination of high carrier mobility and optoelectronic properties tunable viaquantum confinement. In principle, maximizing carrier mobility entails crossingthe insulator-metal transition (IMT), where carriers become delocalized. Arecent theoretical study predicted that this transition occurs at n\rho^3 ~0.3, where n is the carrier density and \rho is the interparticle contactradius. In this work, we satisfy this criterion in networks ofplasma-synthesized ZnO NCs by using intense pulsed light (IPL) annealing totune n and \rho independently. IPL applied to as-deposited NCs increases \rhoby inducing sintering, and IPL applied after the NCs are coated with Al2O3 byatomic layer deposition increases n by removing electron-trapping surfacehydroxyls. This procedure does not substantially alter NC size or compositionand is potentially applicable to a wide variety of nanomaterials. As weincrease n\rho^3 to at least twice the predicted critical value, we observeconductivity scaling consistent with arrival at the critical region of acontinuous quantum phase transition. This allows us to determine the criticalbehavior of the dielectric constant and electron localization length at theIMT. However, our samples remain on the insulating side of the critical region,which suggests that the critical value of n\rho^3 may in fact be significantlyhigher than 0.3.

ZnO Nanocrystal Networks Near the Insulator-Metal Transition: Tuning Contact Radius and Electron Density with Intense Pulsed Light