Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2023 for the discovery and synthesis of quantum dots

Three US scientists planted an important seed for nanotechnology - we have just started exploring the potential of these tiny particles

04-Oct-2023 - The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2023 to Moungi G. Bawendi (Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA, USA), Louis E. Brus (Columbia University, New York, NY, USA) and Alexei I. Ekimov (Nanocrystals Technology Inc., New York, ...

Pairing of electrons in artificial atoms discovered

18-Aug-2023 - Researchers from the Department of Physics at Universität Hamburg, observed a quantum state that was theoretically predicted more than 50 years ago by Japanese theoreticians but so far eluded detection. By tailoring an artificial atom on the surface of a superconductor, the researchers succeeded ...

Near perfect particle-hole symmetry in graphene quantum dots

“This goes beyond what can be done in conventional semiconductors or any other two-dimensional electron system”

05-May-2023 - Researchers at RWTH Aachen University and Forschungszentrum Jülich have uncovered important characteristics of double quantum dots in bilayer graphene, an increasingly promising material for possible applications in quantum technologies. The team has demonstrated near-perfect particle-hole ...

Making Drinking Water Bacteria-Free

Efficient disinfection of water with silver sulfide quantum dots in a peptide coat

02-Mar-2023 - Water contaminated with bacteria is a large threat to global health. A Chinese research team has described a simple new method of disinfection in the journal Angewandte Chemie. It is based on tiny biocompatible assemblies of atoms, known as quantum dots, made of silver sulfide with caps made of a ...

Nanocrystals Store Light Energy and Drive Chemical Reactions

Low toxicity, high efficiency: ZnSe/ZnS quantum dots as photocatalysts

15-Nov-2022 - Chemistry is increasingly making use of the trick plants can do with photosynthesis: driving chemical reactions that run poorly or do not occur spontaneously at all with light energy. This requires suitable photocatalysts that capture light energy and make it available for the reaction. In the ...

Calculating the "fingerprints" of molecules with artificial intelligence

16-Jun-2022 - With conventional methods, it is extremely time-consuming to calculate the spectral fingerprint of larger molecules. But this is a prerequisite for correctly interpreting experimentally obtained data. Now, a team at HZB has achieved very good results in significantly less time using self-learning ...

World’s first LED lights developed from rice husks

19-Apr-2022 - Milling rice to separate the grain from the husks produces about 100 million tons of rice husk waste globally each year. Scientists searching for a scalable method to fabricate quantum dots have developed a way to recycle rice husks to create the first silicon quantum dot (QD) LED light. Their ...

Nano ‘camera’ made using molecular glue allows real-time monitoring of chemical reactions

“We were surprised how powerful this new tool is, considering how straightforward it is to assemble”

06-Sep-2021 - Researchers have made a tiny camera, held together with ‘molecular glue’ that allows them to observe chemical reactions in real time. The device, made by a team from the University of Cambridge, combines tiny semiconductor nanocrystals called quantum dots and gold nanoparticles using molecular ...

Luminescent wood could light up homes of the future

Luminescent and hydrophobic wood films as optical lighting materials

06-Nov-2020 - The right indoor lighting can help set the mood, from a soft romantic glow to bright, stimulating colors. But some materials used for lighting, such as plastics, are not eco-friendly. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Nano have developed a bio-based, luminescent, water-resistant wood film that ...

Photocatalysts show promise in creating self-cleaning surfaces and disinfecting agents

New active photocatalysts based on natural aluminosilicate nanotubes with cadmium sulfide quantum dots

07-Sep-2020 - A joint paper by Kazan Federal University, Boreskov Institute of Catalysis, and Russian Oil and Gas University was published in Chemistry - A European Journal. The team produced and studied new active photocatalysts based on natural aluminosilicate nanotubes with cadmium sulfide quantum dots ...