نقطة كمومية

النقاط الكمومية الغروانية المشععة بضوء فوق البنفسجي. النقاط الكمومية المختلفة في الحجم ينبعث منها ألواناً مختلفة بسبب quantum confinement.

النقاط الكمومية Quantum dots ‏(QDs) هي جسيمات ضئيلة شبه موصلة يبلغ حجمها بضعة نانومترات، ولها خصائص بصرية وإلكترونية تختلف عن الجسيمات الأكبر بسبب ميكانيكا الكم. ويشكلون موضوعاً مركزياً في النانوتكنولوجي. When the quantum dots are illuminated by UV light, an electron in the quantum dot can be excited to a state of higher energy. In the case of a semiconducting quantum dot, this process corresponds to the transition of an electron from the valence band to the conductance band. The excited electron can drop back into the valence band releasing its energy by the emission of light. This light emission (photoluminescence) is illustrated in the figure on the right. The color of that light depends on the energy difference between the conductance band and the valence band.

In the language of materials science, nanoscale semiconductor materials tightly confine either electrons or electron holes. Quantum dots are sometimes referred to as artificial atoms, emphasizing their singularity, having bound, discrete electronic states, like naturally occurring atoms or molecules. It was shown that the electronic wave functions in quantum dots resembles the ones in real atoms. By coupling two or more such quantum dots an artificial molecule can be made, exhibiting hybridization even at room temperature.

Quantum dots have properties intermediate between bulk semiconductors and discrete atoms or molecules. Their optoelectronic properties change as a function of both size and shape. Larger QDs of 5–6 nm diameter emit longer wavelengths, with colors such as orange or red. Smaller QDs (2–3 nm) emit shorter wavelengths, yielding colors like blue and green. However, the specific colors vary depending on the exact composition of the QD.

Potential applications of quantum dots include single-electron transistors, solar cells, LEDs, lasers, single-photon sources, second-harmonic generation, quantum computing, and medical imaging. Their small size allows for some QDs to be suspended in solution, which may lead to use in inkjet printing and spin-coating. They have been used in Langmuir-Blodgett thin-films. These processing techniques result in less expensive and less time-consuming methods of semiconductor fabrication.

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 الانتاج

Quantum Dots with gradually stepping emission from violet to deep red

There are several ways to fabricate quantum dots. Possible methods include colloidal synthesis, self-assembly, and electrical gating.

 التخليق الغرواني

Colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals are synthesized from solutions, much like traditional chemical processes. The main difference is the product neither precipitates as a bulk solid nor remains dissolved. Heating the solution at high temperature, the precursors decompose forming monomers which then nucleate and generate nanocrystals. Temperature is a critical factor in determining optimal conditions for the nanocrystal growth. It must be high enough to allow for rearrangement and annealing of atoms during the synthesis process while being low enough to promote crystal growth. The concentration of monomers is another critical factor that has to be stringently controlled during nanocrystal growth. The growth process of nanocrystals can occur in two different regimes, "focusing" and "defocusing". At high monomer concentrations, the critical size (the size where nanocrystals neither grow nor shrink) is relatively small, resulting in growth of nearly all particles. In this regime, smaller particles grow faster than large ones (since larger crystals need more atoms to grow than small crystals) resulting in "focusing" of the size distribution, yielding an improbable distribution of nearly monodispersed particles. The size focusing is optimal when the monomer concentration is kept such that the average nanocrystal size present is always slightly larger than the critical size. Over time, the monomer concentration diminishes, the critical size becomes larger than the average size present, and the distribution "defocuses".

Cadmium sulfide quantum dots on cells

There are colloidal methods to produce many different semiconductors. Typical dots are made of binary compounds such as lead sulfide, lead selenide, cadmium selenide, cadmium sulfide, cadmium telluride, indium arsenide, and indium phosphide. Dots may also be made from ternary compounds such as cadmium selenide sulfide. Further, recent advances have been made which allow for synthesis of colloidal perovskite quantum dots. These quantum dots can contain as few as 100 to 100,000 atoms within the quantum dot volume, with a diameter of ≈10 to 50 atoms. This corresponds to about 2 to 10 nanometers, and at 10 nm in diameter, nearly 3 million quantum dots could be lined up end to end and fit within the width of a human thumb.

Idealized image of colloidal nanoparticle of lead sulfide (selenide) with complete passivation by oleic acid, oleyl amine and hydroxyl ligands (size ≈5nm)

Large batches of quantum dots may be synthesized via colloidal synthesis. Due to this scalability and the convenience of benchtop conditions, colloidal synthetic methods are promising for commercial applications. It is acknowledged to be the least toxic of all the different forms of synthesis.

 الخصائص البصرية

Fluorescence spectra of CdTe quantum dots of various sizes. Different sized quantum dots emit different color light due to quantum confinement.

In semiconductors, light absorption generally leads to an electron being excited from the valence to the conduction band, leaving behind a hole. The electron and the hole can bind to each other to form an exciton. When this exciton recombines (i.e. the electron resumes its ground state), the exciton's energy can be emitted as light. This is called fluorescence. In a simplified model, the energy of the emitted photon can be understood as the sum of the band gap energy between the highest occupied level and the lowest unoccupied energy level, the confinement energies of the hole and the excited electron, and the bound energy of the exciton (the electron-hole pair):

As the confinement energy depends on the quantum dot's size, both absorption onset and fluorescence emission can be tuned by changing the size of the quantum dot during its synthesis. The larger the dot, the redder (lower energy) its absorption onset and fluorescence spectrum. Conversely, smaller dots absorb and emit bluer (higher energy) light. Recent articles in Nanotechnology and in other journals have begun to suggest that the shape of the quantum dot may be a factor in the coloration as well, but as yet not enough information is available. Furthermore, it was shown that the lifetime of fluorescence is determined by the size of the quantum dot. Larger dots have more closely spaced energy levels in which the electron-hole pair can be trapped. Therefore, electron-hole pairs in larger dots live longer causing larger dots to show a longer lifetime.

To improve fluorescence quantum yield, quantum dots can be made with "shells" of a larger bandgap semiconductor material around them. The improvement is suggested to be due to the reduced access of electron and hole to non-radiative surface recombination pathways in some cases, but also due to reduced Auger recombination in others.

 التطبيقات

Quantum dots are particularly promising for optical applications due to their high extinction coefficient and ultrafast optical nonlinearities with potential applications for developing all-optical systems. They operate like a single-electron transistor and show the Coulomb blockade effect. Quantum dots have also been suggested as implementations of qubits for quantum information processing, and as active elements for thermoelectrics.

Tuning the size of quantum dots is attractive for many potential applications. For instance, larger quantum dots have a greater spectrum shift toward red compared to smaller dots and exhibit less pronounced quantum properties. Conversely, the smaller particles allow one to take advantage of more subtle quantum effects.

A device that produces visible light, through energy transfer from thin layers of quantum wells to crystals above the layers.

Being zero-dimensional, quantum dots have a sharper density of states than higher-dimensional structures. As a result, they have superior transport and optical properties. They have potential uses in diode lasers, amplifiers, and biological sensors. Quantum dots may be excited within a locally enhanced electromagnetic field produced by gold nanoparticles, which then can be observed from the surface plasmon resonance in the photoluminescent excitation spectrum of (CdSe)ZnS nanocrystals. High-quality quantum dots are well suited for optical encoding and multiplexing applications due to their broad excitation profiles and narrow/symmetric emission spectra. The new generations of quantum dots have far-reaching potential for the study of intracellular processes at the single-molecule level, high-resolution cellular imaging, long-term in vivo observation of cell trafficking, tumor targeting, and diagnostics.

CdSe nanocrystals are efficient triplet photosensitizers. Laser excitation of small CdSe nanoparticles enables the extraction of the excited state energy from the quantum dots into bulk solution, thus opening the door to a wide range of potential applications such as photodynamic therapy, photovoltaic devices, molecular electronics, and catalysis.

 Subcutaneous record-keeping

In December 2019, Robert S. Langer and his team developed and patented a technique whereby transdermal patches could be used to apply an identification tattoo to people with invisible ink to store information subcutaneously. This was presented as a boon to "developing nations" where lack of infrastructure means an absence of medical records. The technology, which is assigned to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, uses a "quantum dot dye that is delivered, in this case along with a vaccine, by a microneedle patch." The research "was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research."

 الأحياء

In modern biological analysis, various kinds of organic dyes are used. However, as technology advances, greater flexibility in these dyes is sought. To this end, quantum dots have quickly filled in the role, being found to be superior to traditional organic dyes on several counts, one of the most immediately obvious being brightness (owing to the high extinction coefficient combined with a comparable quantum yield to fluorescent dyes) as well as their stability (allowing much less photobleaching). It has been estimated that quantum dots are 20 times brighter and 100 times more stable than traditional fluorescent reporters. For single-particle tracking, the irregular blinking of quantum dots is a minor drawback. However, there have been groups which have developed quantum dots which are essentially nonblinking and demonstrated their utility in single-molecule tracking experiments.

The use of quantum dots for highly sensitive cellular imaging has seen major advances. The improved photostability of quantum dots, for example, allows the acquisition of many consecutive focal-plane images that can be reconstructed into a high-resolution three-dimensional image. Another application that takes advantage of the extraordinary photostability of quantum dot probes is the real-time tracking of molecules and cells over extended periods of time. Antibodies, streptavidin, peptides, DNA, nucleic acid aptamers, or small-molecule ligands can be used to target quantum dots to specific proteins on cells. Researchers were able to observe quantum dots in lymph nodes of mice for more than 4 months.

Quantum dots can have antibacterial properties similar to nanoparticles and can kill bacteria in a dose-dependent manner. One mechanism by which quantum dots can kill bacteria is through impairing the functions of antioxidative system in the cells and down regulating the antioxidative genes. In addition, quantum dots can directly damage the cell wall. Quantum dots have been shown to be effective against both gram- positive and gram-negative bacteria.

Semiconductor quantum dots have also been employed for in vitro imaging of pre-labeled cells. The ability to image single-cell migration in real time is expected to be important to several research areas such as embryogenesis, cancer metastasis, stem cell therapeutics, and lymphocyte immunology.

One application of quantum dots in biology is as donor fluorophores in Förster resonance energy transfer, where the large extinction coefficient and spectral purity of these fluorophores make them superior to molecular fluorophores It is also worth noting that the broad absorbance of QDs allows selective excitation of the QD donor and a minimum excitation of a dye acceptor in FRET-based studies. The applicability of the FRET model, which assumes that the Quantum Dot can be approximated as a point dipole, has recently been demonstrated

The use of quantum dots for tumor targeting under in vivo conditions employ two targeting schemes: active targeting and passive targeting. In the case of active targeting, quantum dots are functionalized with tumor-specific binding sites to selectively bind to tumor cells. Passive targeting uses the enhanced permeation and retention of tumor cells for the delivery of quantum dot probes. Fast-growing tumor cells typically have more permeable membranes than healthy cells, allowing the leakage of small nanoparticles into the cell body. Moreover, tumor cells lack an effective lymphatic drainage system, which leads to subsequent nanoparticle accumulation.

Quantum dot probes exhibit in vivo toxicity. For example, CdSe nanocrystals are highly toxic to cultured cells under UV illumination, because the particles dissolve, in a process known as photolysis, to release toxic cadmium ions into the culture medium. In the absence of UV irradiation, however, quantum dots with a stable polymer coating have been found to be essentially nontoxic. Hydrogel encapsulation of quantum dots allows for quantum dots to be introduced into a stable aqueous solution, reducing the possibility of cadmium leakage. Then again, only little is known about the excretion process of quantum dots from living organisms.

In another potential application, quantum dots are being investigated as the inorganic fluorophore for intra-operative detection of tumors using fluorescence spectroscopy.

Delivery of undamaged quantum dots to the cell cytoplasm has been a challenge with existing techniques. Vector-based methods have resulted in aggregation and endosomal sequestration of quantum dots while electroporation can damage the semi-conducting particles and aggregate delivered dots in the cytosol. Via cell squeezing, quantum dots can be efficiently delivered without inducing aggregation, trapping material in endosomes, or significant loss of cell viability. Moreover, it has shown that individual quantum dots delivered by this approach are detectable in the cell cytosol, thus illustrating the potential of this technique for single-molecule tracking studies.

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 الأجهزة الڤولتية الضوئية

المقالة الرئيسية: خلية شمسية بنقاط كمومية

The tunable absorption spectrum and high extinction coefficients of quantum dots make them attractive for light harvesting technologies such as photovoltaics. Quantum dots may be able to increase the efficiency and reduce the cost of today's typical silicon photovoltaic cells. According to an experimental proof from 2004, quantum dots of lead selenide can produce more than one exciton from one high energy photon via the process of carrier multiplication or multiple exciton generation (MEG). This compares favorably to today's photovoltaic cells which can only manage one exciton per high-energy photon, with high kinetic energy carriers losing their energy as heat. Quantum dot photovoltaics would theoretically be cheaper to manufacture, as they can be made "using simple chemical reactions."

 الخلايا الشمسية المصنوعة فقط من النقاط الكمومية

Aromatic self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) (e.g. 4-nitrobenzoic acid) can be used to improve the band alignment at electrodes for better efficiencies. This technique has provided a record power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 10.7%. The SAM is positioned between ZnO-PbS colloidal quantum dot (CQD) film junction to modify band alignment via the dipole moment of the constituent SAM molecule, and the band tuning may be modified via the density, dipole and the orientation of the SAM molecule.

 Quantum dot in hybrid solar cells

Colloidal quantum dots are also used in inorganic/organic hybrid solar cells. These solar cells are attractive because of the potential for low-cost fabrication and relatively high efficiency. Incorporation of metal oxides, such as ZnO, TiO2, and Nb2O5 nanomaterials into organic photovoltaics have been commercialized using full roll-to-roll processing. A 13.2% power conversion efficiency is claimed in Si nanowire/PEDOT:PSS hybrid solar cells.

 نقطة كمومية بنانو سلك في الخلايا الشمسية

Another potential use involves capped single-crystal ZnO nanowires with CdSe quantum dots, immersed in mercaptopropionic acid as hole transport medium in order to obtain a QD-sensitized solar cell. The morphology of the nanowires allowed the electrons to have a direct pathway to the photoanode. This form of solar cell exhibits 50–60% internal quantum efficiencies.

Nanowires with quantum dot coatings on silicon nanowires (SiNW) and carbon quantum dots. The use of SiNWs instead of planar silicon enhances the antiflection properties of Si. The SiNW exhibits a light-trapping effect due to light trapping in the SiNW. This use of SiNWs in conjunction with carbon quantum dots resulted in a solar cell that reached 9.10% PCE.

Graphene quantum dots have also been blended with organic electronic materials to improve efficiency and lower cost in photovoltaic devices and organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) in compared to graphene sheets. These graphene quantum dots were functionalized with organic ligands that experience photoluminescence from UV-Vis absorption.

 الصمامات الثنائية الباعثة للضوء

انظر أيضاً: صمام ثنائي باعث للضوء § LED النقاط الكمومية, and شاشات النقاط الكمومية

Several methods are proposed for using quantum dots to improve existing light-emitting diode (LED) design, including "Quantum Dot Light Emitting Diode" (QD-LED or QLED) displays and "Quantum Dot White Light Emitting Diode" (QD-WLED) displays. Because Quantum dots naturally produce monochromatic light, they can be more efficient than light sources which must be color filtered. QD-LEDs can be fabricated on a silicon substrate, which allows them to be integrated onto standard silicon-based integrated circuits or microelectromechanical systems.

 شاشات عرض النقاط الكمومية

انظر أيضاً: شاشة نقاط كمومية

Quantum dots are valued for displays because they emit light in very specific gaussian distributions. This can result in a display with visibly more accurate colors.

A conventional color liquid crystal display (LCD) is usually backlit by fluorescent lamps (CCFLs) or conventional white LEDs that are color filtered to produce red, green, and blue pixels. Quantum dot displays use blue-emitting LEDs rather than white LEDs as the light sources. The converting part of the emitted light is converted into pure green and red light by the corresponding color quantum dots placed in front of the blue LED or using a quantum dot infused diffuser sheet in the backlight optical stack. Blank pixels are also used to allow the blue LED light to still generate blue hues. This type of white light as the backlight of an LCD panel allows for the best color gamut at lower cost than an RGB LED combination using three LEDs.

Another method by which quantum dot displays can be achieved is the electroluminescent (EL) or electro-emissive method. This involves embedding quantum dots in each individual pixel. These are then activated and controlled via an electric current application. Since this is often light emitting itself, the achievable colors may be limited in this method. Electro-emissive QD-LED TVs exist in laboratories only.

The ability of QDs to precisely convert and tune a spectrum makes them attractive for LCD displays. Previous LCD displays can waste energy converting red-green poor, blue-yellow rich white light into a more balanced lighting. By using QDs, only the necessary colors for ideal images are contained in the screen. The result is a screen that is brighter, clearer, and more energy-efficient. The first commercial application of quantum dots was the Sony XBR X900A series of flat panel televisions released in 2013.

In June 2006, QD Vision announced technical success in making a proof-of-concept quantum dot display and show a bright emission in the visible and near infra-red region of the spectrum. A QD-LED integrated at a scanning microscopy tip was used to demonstrate fluorescence near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM) imaging.

 Photodetector devices

Quantum dot photodetectors (QDPs) can be fabricated either via solution-processing, or from conventional single-crystalline semiconductors. Conventional single-crystalline semiconductor QDPs are precluded from integration with flexible organic electronics due to the incompatibility of their growth conditions with the process windows required by organic semiconductors. On the other hand, solution-processed QDPs can be readily integrated with an almost infinite variety of substrates, and also postprocessed atop other integrated circuits. Such colloidal QDPs have potential applications in visible- and infrared-light cameras, machine vision, industrial inspection, spectroscopy, and fluorescent biomedical imaging.

 المحفزات الضوئية

المقالة الرئيسية: التحفيز الضوئي

Quantum dots also function as photocatalysts for the light driven chemical conversion of water into hydrogen as a pathway to solar fuel. In photocatalysis, electron hole pairs formed in the dot under band gap excitation drive redox reactions in the surrounding liquid. Generally, the photocatalytic activity of the dots is related to the particle size and its degree of quantum confinement. This is because the band gap determines the chemical energy that is stored in the dot in the excited state. An obstacle for the use of quantum dots in photocatalysis is the presence of surfactants on the surface of the dots. These surfactants (or ligands) interfere with the chemical reactivity of the dots by slowing down mass transfer and electron transfer processes. Also, quantum dots made of metal chalcogenides are chemically unstable under oxidizing conditions and undergo photo corrosion reactions.

 النظرية

Quantum dots are theoretically described as a point-like, or zero dimensional (0D) entity. Most of their properties depend on the dimensions, shape, and materials of which QDs are made. Generally, QDs present different thermodynamic properties from their bulk materials. One of these effects is melting-point depression. Optical properties of spherical metallic QDs are well described by the Mie scattering theory.

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 الحبس الكمي في أشباه الموصلات

3D confined electron wave functions in a quantum dot. Here, rectangular and triangular-shaped quantum dots are shown. Energy states in rectangular dots are more s-type and p-type. However, in a triangular dot the wave functions are mixed due to confinement symmetry. (Click for animation)

المقالة الرئيسية: Potential well

The energy levels of a single particle in a quantum dot can be predicted using the particle in a box model in which the energies of states depend on the length of the box. For an exciton inside a quantum dot, there is also the Coulomb interaction between the negatively charged electron and the positively charged hole. By comparing the quantum dot's size to the exciton Bohr radius, three regimes can be defined. In the 'strong confinement regime', the quantum dot's radius is much smaller than the exciton Bohr radius, respectively the confinement energy dominates over the Coulomb interaction. In the 'weak confinement' regime, the quantum dot is larger than the exciton Bohr radius, respectively the confinement energy is smaller than the Coulomb interactions between electron and hole. The regime where the exciton Bohr radius and confinement potential are comparable is called the 'intermediate confinement regime'.

Splitting of energy levels for small quantum dots due to the quantum confinement effect. The horizontal axis is the radius, or the size, of the quantum dots and a_b* is the Exciton Bohr radius.

Band gap energy

The band gap can become smaller in the strong confinement regime as the energy levels split up. The exciton Bohr radius can be expressed as:

$a_{\rm {B}}^{*}=\varepsilon _{\rm {r}}\left({\frac {m}{\mu }}\right)a_{\rm {B}}$

where a_B = 0.053 nm is the Bohr radius, m is the mass, μ is the reduced mass, and ε_r is the size-dependent dielectric constant (relative permittivity). This results in the increase in the total emission energy (the sum of the energy levels in the smaller band gaps in the strong confinement regime is larger than the energy levels in the band gaps of the original levels in the weak confinement regime) and the emission at various wavelengths. If the size distribution of QDs is not enough peaked, the convolution of multiple emission wavelengths is observed as a continuous spectra.

Confinement energy

The exciton entity can be modeled using the particle in the box. The electron and the hole can be seen as hydrogen in the Bohr model with the hydrogen nucleus replaced by the hole of positive charge and negative electron mass. Then the energy levels of the exciton can be represented as the solution to the particle in a box at the ground level (n = 1) with the mass replaced by the reduced mass. Thus by varying the size of the quantum dot, the confinement energy of the exciton can be controlled.

Bound exciton energy

There is Coulomb attraction between the negatively charged electron and the positively charged hole. The negative energy involved in the attraction is proportional to Rydberg's energy and inversely proportional to square of the size-dependent dielectric constant of the semiconductor. When the size of the semiconductor crystal is smaller than the Exciton Bohr radius, the Coulomb interaction must be modified to fit the situation.

Therefore, the sum of these energies can be represented as:

${\begin{aligned}E_{\textrm {confinement}}&={\frac {\hbar ^{2}\pi ^{2}}{2a^{2}}}\left({\frac {1}{m_{\rm {e}}}}+{\frac {1}{m_{h}}}\right)={\frac {\hbar ^{2}\pi ^{2}}{2\mu a^{2}}}\\E_{\textrm {exciton}}&=-{\frac {1}{\epsilon _{\rm {r}}^{2}}}{\frac {\mu }{m_{\rm {e}}}}R_{y}=-R_{y}^{*}\\E&=E_{\textrm {bandgap}}+E_{\textrm {confinement}}+E_{\textrm {exciton}}\\&=E_{\textrm {bandgap}}+{\frac {\hbar ^{2}\pi ^{2}}{2\mu a^{2}}}-R_{y}^{*}\end{aligned}}$

where μ is the reduced mass, a is the radius of the quantum dot, m_e is the free electron mass, m_h is the hole mass, and ε_r is the size-dependent dielectric constant.

Although the above equations were derived using simplifying assumptions, they imply that the electronic transitions of the quantum dots will depend on their size. These quantum confinement effects are apparent only below the critical size. Larger particles do not exhibit this effect. This effect of quantum confinement on the quantum dots has been repeatedly verified experimentally and is a key feature of many emerging electronic structures.

The Coulomb interaction between confined carriers can also be studied by numerical means when results unconstrained by asymptotic approximations are pursued.

Besides confinement in all three dimensions (i.e., a quantum dot), other quantum confined semiconductors include:

• Quantum wires, which confine electrons or holes in two spatial dimensions and allow free propagation in the third.
• Quantum wells, which confine electrons or holes in one dimension and allow free propagation in two dimensions.

 النماذج

A variety of theoretical frameworks exist to model optical, electronic, and structural properties of quantum dots. These may be broadly divided into quantum mechanical, semiclassical, and classical.

 ميكانيكا الكم

Quantum mechanical models and simulations of quantum dots often involve the interaction of electrons with a pseudopotential or random matrix.

 شبه الكلاسيكية

Semiclassical models of quantum dots frequently incorporate a chemical potential. For example, the thermodynamic chemical potential of an N-particle system is given by

$\mu (N)=E(N)-E(N-1)$

whose energy terms may be obtained as solutions of the Schrödinger equation. The definition of capacitance,

${1 \over C}\equiv {\Delta \,V \over \Delta \,Q}$,

with the potential difference

$\Delta \,V={\Delta \,\mu \, \over e}={\mu (N+\Delta \,N)-\mu (N) \over e}$

may be applied to a quantum dot with the addition or removal of individual electrons,

$\Delta \,N=1$ and $\Delta \,Q=e$.

Then

$C(N)={e^{2} \over \mu (N+1)-\mu (N)}={e^{2} \over I(N)-A(N)}$

is the quantum capacitance of a quantum dot, where we denoted by I(N) the ionization potential and by A(N) the electron affinity of the N-particle system.

 الميكانيكا الكلاسيكية

Classical models of electrostatic properties of electrons in quantum dots are similar in nature to the Thomson problem of optimally distributing electrons on a unit sphere.

The classical electrostatic treatment of electrons confined to spherical quantum dots is similar to their treatment in the Thomson, or plum pudding model, of the atom.

The classical treatment of both two-dimensional and three-dimensional quantum dots exhibit electron shell-filling behavior. A "periodic table of classical artificial atoms" has been described for two-dimensional quantum dots. As well, several connections have been reported between the three-dimensional Thomson problem and electron shell-filling patterns found in naturally occurring atoms found throughout the periodic table. This latter work originated in classical electrostatic modeling of electrons in a spherical quantum dot represented by an ideal dielectric sphere.

 تاريخ

The term quantum dot was coined in 1986. They were first synthesized in a glass matrix by Alexey Ekimov in 1981 and in colloidal suspension by Louis Brus in 1983. They were first theorized by Alexander Efros in 1982. The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2023 was awarded to Moungi Bawendi, Louis Brus and Alexei Ekimov “for the discovery and synthesis of quantum dots.”

 انظر أيضاً

• Core–shell semiconductor nanocrystal
• Cadmium-free quantum dots
• Nanocrystal solar cell
• Quantum dot laser
• Quantum dot single-photon source
• Quantum point contact
• Superatom
• Trojan wave packet
• Langmuir-Blodgett film
• Alexey Ekimov
• Louis E. Brus
• Mark Reed (physicist)
• Shuming Nie
• Paul Alivisatos
• Moungi Bawendi
• Uri Banin
• Carbon quantum dots
• Cadmium-free quantum dot

 للاستزادة

• Photoluminescence of a QD vs particle diameter.
• Methods to produce quantum-confined semiconductor structures (quantum wires, wells and dots via grown by advanced epitaxial techniques), nanocrystals by gas-phase, liquid-phase and solid-phase approaches.

 وصلات خارجية

• Quantum Dots: Technical Status and Market Prospects
• Quantum dots that produce white light could be the light bulb's successor
• Single quantum dots optical properties
• Quantum dot on arxiv.org
• Quantum Dots Research and Technical Data
• Simulation and interactive visualization of Quantum Dots wave function