Chemical potential and symmetry properties for excess electrons on polymer nanoparticles: quantum drops

Quantum drops, polymer nanoparticles with excess electrons, can be produced in a monodispersed aerosol from solution. The electronic properties of excess charges on the polymer nanoparticles are predicted to be analogous to those of semiconductor quantum dots and hence these structures are referred to as quantum drops. Quantum drops have controllable physical properties including radius, composition, chemical potential and magnetic properties and can be obtained in the gas phase. We consider the chemical potential and symmetry point groups of electrons confined on the surface of these spherical polymer nanoparticles, using a model Hamiltonian and semiclassical quantization.