Quantum dots are part of a revolution in engineering atoms in useful ways – Nobel Prize for chemistry recognizes the power of nanotechnology

• The 2023 Nobel Prize for chemistry isn’t the first Nobel awarded for research in nanotechnology.
• But it is perhaps the most colorful application of the technology to be associated with the accolade.
• This year’s prize recognizes Moungi Bawendi, Louis Brus and Alexei Ekimov for the discovery and development of quantum dots.
• Quantum dots brilliantly fluoresce: They absorb one color of light and reemit it nearly instantaneously as another color.

Skip chemical bonds, rely on quantum physics

• For instance, some of the earliest dyes started with a clear substance such as analine, transformed through chemical reactions to the desired hue.
• Rather than depending on chemical bonds to determine the wavelengths of light they absorb and emit, they rely on very small clusters of semiconducting materials.
• Early quantum dots were often based on cadmium selenide for instance – the component materials of which are toxic.
• And yet, quantum dots are a pivotal part of a technology transition that’s revolutionizing how people work with atoms and molecules.

‘Base coding’ on an atomic level

• This concept is intuitive when it comes to computing, where programmers use the “base code” of 1,s and 0’s, albeit through higher level languages.
• This ability to work with base codes also extends to the material world.
• Here, the code is made up of atoms and molecules and how they are arranged in ways that lead to novel properties.
• Bawendi, Brus and Ekimov’s work on quantum dots is a perfect example of this form of material-world base coding.