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Quantum dots are about to change all of that.
These electronic crystals are so tiny that 10,000 of them span just the width of a human hair.
They
are small enough to operate in the fascinating realm of physics called
quantum mechanics, and possess unique optical qualities that could
change everything from TV screens and phone displays to medical imaging
and solar panels.
Even the humble light bulb is unlikely to escape their revolutionary clutches.
Shine a light
Quantum
dots emit one specific color when light goes through them. The color
can be finely tuned and is determined by their size.
The bigger ones -- about 50 atoms thick -- glow red, while the smallest -- 30 atoms or so -- glow green.
Just
a subtle tweak in the size of the particle can change its color right
across the spectrum of the color wheel: "We can tune these dots to
fluoresce at any color that a given application requires," says Michael
Edelman, CEO of UK-based Nanoco, a quantum dot manufacturer.
Applied
to TVs, this technology has several advantages over traditional LCD
panels, as the colors are more accurate and the images more vibrant.
On top of that, they are more energy efficient: "Quantum dots require a tiny amount of energy to operate," Edelman told CNN.
"Whenever
you have a material that gives off a very bright pure light with a tiny
amount of energy, people start getting excited."
Heavy metals
Display
manufacturers are lapping up the technology as quantum dots can improve
screen quality at a fraction of the cost of other display technologies,
such as OLED.
But while they have been
around for more than a decade, quantum dots have had a slow rate of
adoption because they contain cadmium, a toxic heavy metal that faces
stiff regulations in many parts of the world.
Edelman
said Nanoco has spent more than $50 million and the better part of 15
years developing quantum dots that are not only free of heavy metals but
can be produced in the kind of quantities that make it attractive for
manufacturers.
"Any new material that comes out will have this problem," he explained.
"Every
year weird and wonderful things are produced in labs around the world.
But you have to make enough of this stuff that companies like Samsung
can get it in the quantities they need.
"And that was a key problem we solved."
Extracting cadmium from the process, however, has changed the playing field.
Medical applications
Now that it can be mass-produced without heavy metals, the material is safe for medical diagnostics as well.
Doctors
have already worked with quantum dots to illuminate molecules that can
bind themselves to cancer tumors, allowing the surgeon to easily
distinguish the healthy from the diseased to tissue.
"It's
very rare that you see a material that is a true platform technology,
meaning the same material can be used in cancer imaging, to make TVs, in
security inks and in solar cells. That's unusual," says Edelman.
Lighting the way forward
At
the moment the display industry has shown the greatest interest in the
quantum dot technology, but the lighting industry and the medical
diagnostic industry are the next in line.
One
of the greatest advantages to any industry from quantum dots is that
they take 30% less energy to produce the same amount of light. Used in
mobile phone displays, quantum dots stand to vastly improve battery
life.
And as for the old incandescent
light bulb, quantum dots could bring that old yellow-tinged glow back to
living rooms around the world.
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