A Nobel Prize for Quantum Dots!
October 6, 2023
It’s been a big week for Quantum Dot technology! On Monday a quantum dot TV was crowned “King of TV” and, on Wednesday morning, we learned that the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to three early Quantum Dot pioneers. It’s enough to have any keen readers of this blog wondering, “Just what did Nanosys know when they declared 2023 the ‘Year of the Quantum Dot’ back in April?”
We can assure you that we had no prior knowledge of the sacrosanct deliberations of the Value Electronics crew or the Noble Committee for Chemistry. Still, we are certainly feeling a bit more prescient today.
The Nobel Committee for Chemistry chose to reward three early quantum dot pioneers for the discovery and synthesis of quantum dots in the 1980s and 90s: Louis Brus, Moungi Bawendi and Alexei Ekimov.
Quantum Dot Nobel Laureates
From left to right: Moungi Bawendi, Louis Brus and Alexei Ekimov.
Bawendi Breakthrough
Moungi Bawendi’s 1993 breakthrough on quantum dot synthesis, perhaps the most cited paper ever in quantum dots, led to the commercialization of quantum dot technology.
Quantum Size Effect
Controlling color with size at the quantum scale.
How big is a quantum dot?
Quantum Dots are truly tiny. A quantum dot is to a soccer ball what a soccer ball is to the earth.
The news has a special meaning for Nanosys. We owe much to the quantum dot advancements of all three but especially to Dr Bawendi and Dr Brus. Bawendi was a scientific co-founder at Nanosys when the company was formed in 2001, and Brus served on Nanosys’ scientific advisory board for many of the company’s early years.
The modern quantum dot manufacturing process is a direct descendent of Dr. Bawendi's breakthrough in 1993. As we approach the end of 2023, over 70 million Quantum Dot display products have shipped to consumers worldwide. These three brilliant scientists, and many others who joined them in perfecting quantum dot chemistry, have made the world brighter and more vibrant. For that, we would like to say thank you and congratulations!
If you are interested in learning more about either the science behind quantum dot technology or its commercial applications, there are a few great resources being made available this week to honor the Nobel winners. We recommend:
