Semiconducting nanocrystals with size-tunable fluorescence.
Core Principles & Analysis
The 1993 hot-injection synthesis of Murray, Norris, and Bawendi yielded monodisperse CdSe dots; quantum-dot pioneers Bawendi, Brus, and Ekimov shared the 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Quantum confinement tunes emission purely by size: dots about 2 nm across glow blue-green while 7 nm dots emit deep red.
Core-shell CdSe/ZnS dots became the color converters in QLED display backlights and bright, photostable fluorescent tags in cell biology.