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Meet the unsung scientists behind the Nobel for quantum dots

Nature speaks to those who worked alongside this year’s chemistry laureates to develop the award-winning nanocrystals.
  1. Neil Savage
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Coal-derived graphene quantum dots (CQDs) emitting light of different colours after UV (ultraviolet) light exposure.

Quantum dots emit various wavelengths of light on the basis of their size. Credit: National Energy Technology Laboratory/US DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY/Science Photo Library

Nobel prizewinners almost never work in isolation. They might be the driving force behind their award-winning discoveries, but a whole host of collaborators, postdoctoral fellows and graduate students helped to realize their vision in the laboratory.

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Nature 622, 680-681 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-03179-z

Updates & Corrections

  • Correction 23 October 2023: An earlier version of this story said that the firm Lumicell makes quantum dots for tagging and lighting up cancer cells during surgery. It makes a fluorescence-based molecular system for lighting up the cells.

References

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