Quantum Dots

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Quantum Dot Properties & Applications

Quantum dots are particularly significant for optical applications due to their bright, pure colors, and ability to emit a spectrum of colors. They also offer high quantum efficiencies, long lifetimes, and a high extinction coefficient. Because of these properties, They are used in LEDs, solid-state lighting, displays, and photovoltaics.

As zero-dimensional structures, quantum dots have a sharper density of states compared to higher-dimensional materials. Their small size allows electrons to travel shorter distances than in larger particles, enabling faster operation of electronic devices such as transistors, solar cells, ultrafast all-optical switches, logic gates, and quantum computing.

The small size of quantum dots also allows them to navigate throughout the body, making them suitable for various biomedical applications, such as bioimaging and bioassays and biosensors. Quantum dots offer advantages over organic dyes in fluorescence-based biosensors: quantum dots can emit across the entire spectrum, are brighter, emit narrower spectral widths, and exhibit minimal degradation over time, making them superior to traditional organic dyes in biomedical applications.

Inorganic Quantum Dots

Inorganic quantum dots are quantum dots composed of inorganic semiconductor materials, typically consisting of elements from groups II-VI (such as CdSe, CdS, ZnS), III-V (such as InP, InAs, GaAs), or IV-VI (such as PbS, PbSe) of the periodic table. Inorganic quantum dots consist of core-type, core-shell, and alloyed quantum dots.

We offer inorganic quantum dots with spectral ranges from UV to NIR, available in easy-to-handle solutions of water or toluene, and featuring a wide range of surface functionalizations.

Core-Type Quantum Dots

Core-type quantum dots are nanocrystals made from a single mater, for example, CdTe or PbS. The photo- and electroluminescence properties of core-type nanocrystals are fine-tuned by simply changing the particle size.

Core-Shell Quantum Dots

Core-shell quantum dots consist of a semiconducting core material and a distinct semiconductor shell, like ZnS, that enhances the quantum efficiency and stability.

By surrounding the core (CdSe) with a higher band gap material (shells), these quantum dots achieve greater than 50% quantum yield. The shell coating also passivates nonradiative recombination sites, making them more robust to process conditions for various applications.

Alloyed Quantum Dots

Alloyed semiconductor quantum dots, formed by combining two semiconductors with different band gaps, enable tuning of optical and electronic properties through composition and internal structure rather than size alone. These alloys exhibit properties distinct from both their bulk counterparts and parent semiconductors, providing composition-dependent tunability beyond quantum confinement effects.

Cadmium-Free Quantum Dots

The development of cadmium-free quantum dots has been driven by toxicity concerns, with InP/ZnS and CuInS₂/ZnS core/shell quantum dots emerging as leading alternatives. These Cd-free materials enable safer applications in biological imaging, displays, and optoelectronics.

Carbon-based Quantum Dots

Carbon-based quantum dots display many advantageous properties in addition to quantum confinement and edge effects, such as high biocompatibility, water solubility, facile chemical modification, and catalytic properties. Types of carbon-based quantum dots include graphene quantum dots (GQDs) and carbon quantum dots (CQDs). GQDs are graphene structures (sp2-hybridized carbon) composed of several layered sheets with lateral dimensions less than 100 nanometers.  CQDs are comprised of a disordered sp2- and sp3- hybridized carbon structure similar to amorphous carbon and have physical dimensions of less than 10 nanometers.

Perovskite Quantum Dots

Perovskite quantum dots (PQDs) are semiconducting materials with high luminescent efficiency. They have a low threshold, tunable wavelength, and ultra-stable stimulated emission (SE). These semiconductors are a class of hybrid organic-inorganic metal halide based perovskite materials, with the common formula ABX3, where A is Cesium (Cs) or FA (formamidinium), X is Chlorine (Cl), Bromine (Br), or Iodine (I). They have a direct bandgap which is useful for a variety of optoelectronic devices.

Infrared Quantum Dots

Infrared quantum dots, composed of narrow-bandgap semiconductors such as PbS, Ag₂S, and Ag₂Se, provide size-tunable optical properties in the near- to short-wave infrared range (NIR to SWIR). These materials enable critical applications including photodetectors for sensing, sensitizers for solar cells, and infrared emitters for telecommunications and biological imaging. 

Quantum Dot Kits

Take advantage of the unique optical and biocompatible properties of our quantum dot kits. The kits come with nanoparticles in ready-to-use mixtures. Easily screen antibodies or develop new in vitro diagnostics. No prior experience with conjugation is needed. Unleash the potential of these powerful materials in your research endeavors.

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