Nobel Prize Winners: Quantum Dots
Last year, three brilliant minds behind a groundbreaking discovery completely illuminated the world of science. 2023’s Nobel Peace Prize in Chemistry was awarded to the exceptional researchers: Moungi G. Bawendi, Louis E. Brus, and Aleksey Yekimov for their pioneering work in discovering and developing quantum dots.
Now, I know, quantum dots may sound like something out of the ordinary — and completely out of a sci-fi fantasy — but trust me, they are incredibly powerful. Quantum dots are tiny particles, being a few nanometers in size, and have opened up a world of possibilities, revolutionizing medical imaging to enhancing the quality of television screens.
Quantum Dots
Quantum dots are quite common, and can be seen everywhere in our day-to-day lives; your TV screen, your laptop, and more. Electrons in the dots release energy — known as photons — and these photons are packets of light that appear as different colours to the human eye, depending on how much the electrons are squeezed. “If you take an electron and put it into a small space, its wave function gets compressed”, quoted by Heiner Linke, member of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry.
History of the Dot
The first idea of quantum dots appeared in theories in the 1930s, where Ekimov put nanoparticles of copper chloride in glass and showed that the particle size changed the color of the glass through quantum effects. It would be later in 1993 that Bawendi developed a way in which to standardize dot production, opening the field for other scientists to make a plethora of discoveries.
Bawendi’s lab created a “soup” of other substances that were able to be attached to the quantum dot seeds and work to regulate their growth. This allowed the dots to be coined the term “tunable”, meaning that their sizes could be controlled to produce a wide variety of energy levels
Scientists are hoping to further this nano-sized advancement to aid in other aspects of society, such as in the hospital room, where quantum dots can be used as sensors and probes to dig and reach hard-to-find molecules deep within the body.
About the Author
Alice Zhou is a dedicated university student pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Medical Sciences at the University of Western Ontario. She is an aspiring dental/research student and is hoping to make a strong, positive impact on others! Find her on LinkedIn.
