Tiny Tech 45: Carbon Quantum Dots

Today from the world of Tiny Tech:

In nanotechnology, the big ideas involve really small things, such as quantum dots. Quantum dots are very small chunks of matter that can be tuned to absorb or emit light of different colors simply by changing the size of the dot. In fact, light emitting diodes called QLEDs, which are based on quantum dots, are now used in as displays in some TVs and phones.

The current generation of light emitting materials work great but many of them contain expensive rare earth compounds or toxic metals such as cadmium. To address this disadvantage, scientists are investigating quantum dots made of carbon, the same element found in diamonds and in the graphite used in pencils. Most of the carbon dots studied so far emit blue or green light, but some newer ones emit red light. Although much work still needs to be done to make them useful, carbon dots have a promising future in display technology … and also in fields such as biomedicine, batteries, and catalysis.

So, one day carbon may replace the materials that currently are used to make quantum dots. I guess you could call that a carbon copy.

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