Some interesting electronic and dynamic properties of semiconductor nanocrystal heterostructures have been investigated using various spectroscopic methods. Semiconductor nanocrystal heterostructures were prepared using colloidal synthesis techniques. Ultrafast transient absorption spectroscopy was used to monitor the relaxation of hot electrons in CdS/HgS/CdS quantum dot quantum wells. Careful analysis of the hot electron relaxation in CdS/HgS/CdS quantum dot quantum wells reveals an energy dependent relaxation mechanism involving electronic states of varying CdS and HgS composition. The composition of the electronic states, combined with the layered structure of the nanocrystal permits the assignment of CdS localized and HgS localized excited states. The dynamic effect of surface passivation is then shown to have the strongest influence on excited states that are localized in the HgS layer. New quantum dot quantum well heterostructures of different sizes and compositions were also prepared and studied. The dynamic properties of CdS/CdSe/CdS colloidal quantum wells suggest simultaneous relaxation of excited electrons within the CdS core and CdSe shell on the sub-picosecond time scale. Despite the very different electronic structure of CdS/CdSe/CdS compared to CdS/HgS/CdS, the time scales of the relaxation and electron localization were very similar. Enhancement of trap luminescence was observed when CdS quantum dots were coated with silver. The mechanism of the enhancement was investigated using time-resolved spectroscopic techniques.