These solutions, shown glowing under UV light, were grown using a groundbreaking technique that opens a new world of materials for researchers growing nanocrystals. (Courtesy of the University of Chicago/Talapin Lab)
Quantum dots are semiconductive crystals that can emit specific colors of light, making them useful in many technologies. We see them in use every day in practical applications like lasers, QLED screens, and medical imaging.
Recently, a new technique for growing these tiny particles, published in Science, shows promise as a new, more efficient way to grow these quantum dots—suggesting that industry may be able to produce them more quickly and at a lower cost.
The team—which included researchers from the University of Chicago, University of California Berkeley, Northwestern University, the University of Colorado Boulder, and Argonne National Laboratory—achieved these results by replacing the organic solvents typically used to create nanocrystals with molten salt.
Eran Rabani, professor of chemistry at the University of California Berkeley, led the work on understanding the emerging properties of the nanocrystals and is a co-author of the paper.
“If there is a material from the world of nano that has had an impact on society in terms of applications, it’s the quantum dot,” he said. The quantum dot is well known for its wide commercial use, and for the recent 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry given to the team that discovered them.
“Both the synthesis [making the crystals] and the emerging properties [what they can do] are equally important,” he said. “We need new methods to make materials, and we need to understand what these materials are good for.”
Ultimately, making advancements in materials and technology makes them more accessible and effective in our daily lives.
This new technique can ultimately lead to better, brighter screens for our devices, more effective solar panels that convert sunlight into electricity, and improved tools for diagnosing diseases in healthcare, but for many on the research team, the truly exciting part is opening up new materials for study.