Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Quantum Leap For Quantum Dots

Photo: Silicon nanoparticles are engineered to glow red under ultraviolet light with quantum dots or organic chemicals. (Photo courtesy of UCSD)

From North County Times:

Nanoparticles may wind up in your medicine chest, on your money.

Specks of semiconductors called quantum dots, could soon spread around the world, around us, and perhaps, even inside of us.

A few billionths of a meter in diameter, or 5,000 to the width of a human hair, quantum dots glow fluorescently in a variety of colors. Once strictly a lab curiosity, they can reveal molecular processes inside cells, detect dangerous chemicals and improve the efficiency of solar power systems.

Pioneering work on quantum dots is being performed at Carlsbad-based Life Technologies, at UC San Diego and other local biotech companies and non-profit research institutes.

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