The 2023 Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded to Moungi G. Bawendi, Louis E. Brus and Alexei I. Ekimov.
They were awarded for the discovery and synthesis of quantum dots.
In the early 1980s, Dr. Ekimov succeeded in creating size-dependent quantum effects in coloured glass.
In 1983, Dr. Brus and his colleagues went a step ahead and prepared similar crystals in a liquid solution, rather than in a glass.
Finally, in 1993, Dr. Bawendi and his coworkers developed a technique to make these peculiar crystals— i.e., the quantum dots—of well-defined sizes and with high optical quality.
These nanoparticles have wide-ranging applications across fields like electronics, advanced surgery, and quantum computing.
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.
Quantum dots are also used in photovoltaic cells to improve the absorption and efficiency in converting solar light into electricity.