The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded on Wednesday to Moungi G. Bawendi, Louis E. Brus, and Alexei I. Ekimov for their groundbreaking work in the nanoworld. These laureates pioneered the discovery and development of quantum dots, which are semiconductors made up of particles that are so small, the electrons within them have very little space to move.
Traditional crystals used in electronics are relatively large at the molecular level. However, quantum dots are made up of only a few thousand atoms squeezed into a space just a few nanometers in size. The Nobel Foundation emphasized that the difference in size between a soccer ball and a quantum dot is comparable to the difference between a soccer ball and the Earth.
Johan Aqvist, the chair of the Academy’s Nobel committee for chemistry, expressed his surprise at the discovery, stating that it was once believed that such small particles could not be created. However, this year’s laureates were successful in achieving this feat. During the announcement of the 2023 laureates, Aqvist displayed five colorful flasks containing quantum dots in a liquid solution.
Interestingly, the news of the laureates’ impending win was leaked by Swedish news media earlier that same morning, which was highly unusual. The leak was then reported by Reuters and The Associated Press before the official announcement by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. The Academy clarified that no decision had been made at the time and attributed the leak to a mistake on their part.
So, who are the winners? Dr. Bawendi, born in France in 1961, is a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and previously studied under Dr. Brus as a postdoctoral researcher. Dr. Brus, born in Cleveland in 1943, is a professor emeritus at Columbia University. Dr. Ekimov, born in the former Soviet Union in 1945, was previously the chief scientist at Nanocrystals Technology, a New York-based company.
The Nobel committee explained that the laureates were awarded the prize for their work on quantum dots and how they manipulate electrons, which exist at fixed distances from an atom’s nucleus. When atoms are energized, their electrons temporarily move to greater distances and energy levels, and when they return to their original positions, they release excess energy as light. Quantum dots, crystals that trigger the wavelike behavior of electrons theorized by quantum mechanics, were the key to achieving these effects.
Dr. Ekimov’s research in the 1970s on colored glass and copper chloride crystals, as well as Dr. Brus’s independent discovery of the same effect using cadmium sulfide crystals, provided the first observations of a quantum effect dependent on size rather than elemental composition. However, it was Dr. Bawendi’s breakthrough in the 1990s that allowed the production of high-quality quantum dots with precise control over their size and surface.
The impact of this discovery has revolutionized technology in fields such as medicine and everyday electronics. Quantum dots are now used to enhance the color and brightness of LED lights and television screens. They also have applications in biomedical imaging, such as identifying cancerous tissue. Additionally, quantum dots are expected to drive advancements in electronics, solar cells, and encrypted quantum information.
Colleagues of the laureates praised their work as a significant achievement that began as a theoretical concept and evolved into practical applications. Judith Giordan, president of the American Chemical Society, emphasized the importance of their work in improving various aspects of people’s lives, including high-definition TV screens, energy-efficient lighting, and solar panel efficiency.
The laureates expressed their surprise and honor at receiving the Nobel Prize. Dr. Bawendi mentioned that it was a great honor to share the prize with his former mentor, Dr. Brus, who had a significant impact on his scientific career. Dr. Ekimov felt a sense of satisfaction that their work was being acknowledged. Dr. Brus was initially unaware of the announcement but was overjoyed to receive the news and recognized the collaborative effort that contributed to their discovery.
It is worth noting that Carolyn R. Bertozzi, Morten Meldal, and K. Barry Sharpless won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2022 for their work on click chemistry.
The other Nobel Prizes awarded this year include the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which was given to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman for their contributions to messenger RNA modification. The Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz, and Anne L’Huillier for their groundbreaking work in electron imaging techniques.
The Noble Prize in Literature is yet to be announced by the Swedish Academy in Stockholm, while the Nobel Peace Prize will be awarded by the Norwegian Nobel Committee on Friday.