The Royal Swedish Academy of Science, Stockholm, on October 4, 2023, announced the names of the winners of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Moungi G.Bawendi,Louis Brus and Alexei I. Ekimov have been honoured for their “discovery and synthesis of Quantum dots”. They will share a prize of 11 million Swedish kroner (US$1 million).
The prize will be conferred to them on December 10, 2023 in Stockholm, Sweden.
A quantum dot is a crystal that often consists of just a few thousand atoms. Quantum dots are extremely tiny - just a few millionths of a millimetre. They are an artificially-created collection of semiconducting nanoparticles that glow blue, red or green when exposed to light.
Their exact size determines the colour of light they emit when given energy. The smallest quantum dots emit higher energy waves and produce blue light, and biggest dots release lower energy waves creating red light, with the middle sizes creating the colours in between.
Quantum dots now illuminate computer monitors and television screens based on QLED (Quantum Dot Light Emitting Diode) technology. They also add nuance to the light of some LED lamps, and biochemists and doctors use them to map biological tissue.
According to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences"For a long time nobody thought you could make such small particles, but the winners this year managed to do just that".
"Researchers believe that in the future they could contribute to flexible electronics, tiny sensors, thinner solar cells and encrypted quantum communication - so we have just started exploring the potential of these tiny particles," it added.
The Nobel Prize was founded in the memory of Alfred Nobel, who, in his will, asked to set up a foundation to give prizes to those persons or institutions who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to "humankind". The Nobel Foundation was set up in 1900, and the first prize was given in 1901.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry