A model is presented to explain the light-current-voltage characteristics of composite light-emitting structures. These structures are composed of a conducting polymer matrix impregnated with a sheet of inorganic quantum dot nanocrystals. Such structures were reported to exhibit emission characteristics which were extremely promising but, at the same time, not explicable using available models. We present a generalized model that can describe the salient observed characteristics. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.