Bound ligand
Radiative photon
Trap-quenched exciton
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Every colloidal quantum dot is a nanocrystal core wrapped in a shell of organic ligand molecules, and that shell is the difference between a bright emitter and a dark one. This simulator renders a quantum dot core surrounded by an instanced shell of ligand sites governed by real Langmuir adsorption-desorption kinetics: raise the free-ligand concentration or the ligand-surface bond energy and coverage climbs toward its steady state; raise the temperature and thermally activated desorption strips it back down. Excitons spawn continuously at the core and either recombine radiatively — emitting a photon outward — when their local neighborhood is passivated, or quench non-radiatively through an exposed trap site when it isn't, so the live photoluminescence readout is a direct, measured consequence of the surface chemistry, not a scripted number. The "Trigger Ligand Exchange" button reproduces the step every colloidal-QD lab performs before device integration: swap the native long-chain ligand for a shorter one and watch the surface go transiently bare — and dark — before it re-equilibrates under the new binding energy.