Explained: What Are Quantum Dots, The Tiny Crystals Behind Chemistry Nobel Prize
NDTV
Three scientists have won the Nobel Chemistry Prize for research in tiny particles known as quantum dots.
Quantum dots are tiny crystals that scientists can tune to different colours, giving an extra-vivid pop to next-generation TV screens or illuminating tumours inside bodies so surgeons can hunt them down. Three scientists won the Nobel Chemistry Prize on Wednesday for their work turning an idea first theorised in the 1930s into a reality that now has pride of place in living rooms across the world.
Quantum dots are semiconducting particles just one-thousandth the width of a human hair. In 1937, the physicist Herbert Froehlich predicted that once particles were small enough -- so-called nanoparticles -- they would come under the strange spell of quantum mechanics.
To explain this quantum phenomenon, American Chemical Society president Judith Giordan said to "think of it like a little box".
