Noble Prize of Chemistry, 2023

Ashish Ashatkar October 05, 2023

Introduction

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2023 will be given to Moungi G. Bawend(MIT), Louis E. Brus (Columbia University), and Alexei I. Ekimov (Nanocrystals Technology Inc., USA) for the discovery and development of quantum dots, according to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
These tiny particles, which have special qualities, are now emitting light from LED lighting and television displays.
They catalyze chemical reactions, and a surgeon can use their clear light to illuminate tumor tissue.

Every student of chemistry learns that an element's characteristics depend on the number of electrons it has. However, quantum phenomena appear when matter is reduced to nanoscales; these phenomena are controlled by the size of the matter.
The 2023 Chemistry Nobel Laureates have succeeded in creating particles with properties that are governed by quantum phenomena.
These tiny objects, sometimes known as quantum dots, are increasingly crucial to nanotechnology.

"Quantum dots have a wide range of intriguing and unique characteristics. Johan Qvist, Chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, notes that they have various colors depending on their size.
Although it was theoretically feasible for size-dependent quantum effects to occur in nanoparticles, scientists had long known that this was an impossibility at the time. Few people therefore thought that this information would actually be used in real life.

However, Alexei Ekimov was successful in producing size-dependent quantum effects in colored glass at the beginning of the 1980s. Copper chloride nanoparticles were responsible for the color, and Ekimov showed how quantum effects may change the color of the glass depending on the particle size.

Louis Brus was the first scientist in the world to demonstrate size-dependent quantum effects in particles freely circling in fluid a few years later.

Moungi Bawendi's 1993 revolution in the chemical synthesis of quantum dots produced nearly flawless particles. They had to possess this superior quality in order to be used in applications.

Using QLED technology, quantum dots are currently used to illuminate computer and television screens. Biochemists and clinicians utilize them to map biological tissue, and they also lend complexity to the light of some LED lamps.

Therefore, quantum dots are helping humanity the most. We have only begun to explore the potential of these tiny particles, but researchers think they may one day help create flexible electronics, tiny sensors, thinner solar cells, and encrypted quantum communication.

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