Bawendi, Brus and Ekinov, Nobel Prizes in Chemistry for the Development of Quantum Points

2023/10/04 Galarraga Aiestaran, Ana - Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Sariak
• Kimika

As announced by the Swedish Academy of Sciences, Moungi G. From Bawen, Louis E. Brussels and Alexei I. Ekinov will receive the 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for “finding and synthesizing quantum dots.”

In the resolution, the academy has highlighted that quantum dots are already used in many applications: televisions and computer monitors, LED lights, surgical and biochemical tools… All of them are based on the quantum characteristics of matter on the nanoscale; the researchers who this year will receive the prize were able to create and implement particles of that scale.

In fact, in the early 1980s, Alexei Ekinov obtained colored crystals with quantum characteristics depending on their size. The color was produced by copper chloride nanoparticles and showed that the measurement of the particles affected the color thanks to its quantum properties.

Years later, Louis Bris first tested quantum characteristics as a function of measurement, on particles floating freely in a fluid. He published his discovery in 1983 and ran tests on different substances. The problem was that the size of the particles produced by their method was not predictable.

In 1993, Moungi Bawen revolutionized quantum dot production by developing a method for almost perfect particles. The resulting quantum dots were suitable for commercial applications.

According to the academy, the quantum characteristics of nanomunda were only a scientific prediction. Today, thanks to the work of the winners, humanity can use some of these features. In addition to commercial products, they are used in many scientific disciplines, from physics and chemistry to medicine. And they look forward to new applications in the future, like flexible electronics, tiny sensors, thinner solar cells and encrypted quantum communication.

Moungi G. Bawendi was born in Paris in 1961 and has traveled his scientific career in the United States. Louis E. Born in 1943, Brus Cleveland has traveled his country. Finally, Alexei I. Ekimen was born in 1945 in the then Soviet Union. He was a PhD student in Russia and then studied in the United States.