2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry: Three share prize for discovery of quantum dots, now used in LEDs

Source: The post is based on the article “2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry: Three share prize for discovery of quantum dots, now used in LEDs” published in “The Hindu” on 5th October 2023

What is the News?

The 2023 Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded to Moungi G. Bawendi, Louis E. Brus and Alexei I. Ekimov for the discovery and synthesis of quantum dots. 

What are Quantum Dots?

Quantum dots are particles that are a few nanometres wide.They exhibit unique optical  properties due to their small physical size. 

Their structure and atomic composition are the same as bulk materials, but the properties of the latter don’t depend on their size.In fact ,the properties of quantum dots can be changed by changing their size.

What are the applications of Quantum Dots?

Display Enhancement: Quantum dots make computer monitors and TV screens more colorful and brighter.Blue LEDs behind the screen excite these dots, causing them to emit light of different colours.Combining these colours gives rise to even more colours as well as brightness.

Biological Tissue Mapping: Tiny quantum dots are used by biochemists to map biological tissues at a very small scale.

Solar Energy: Quantum dots improve the efficiency of solar panels by helping them absorb and convert sunlight into electricity.

Cancer Treatment: Quantum dots play a role in targeted drug delivery for certain cancer treatments and have broader applications in nanomedicine.

Anti-Counterfeiting: Quantum dots can be used as security markers on currency and documents to prevent counterfeiting.

Fluorescent Tagging: In general, quantum dots serve as bright fluorescent markers for tagging and tracking various objects.

Quantum Computing: Quantum dots are explored as potential qubits or quantum bits for use in quantum computing due to their quantum mechanical properties.