A news release came in the other day.
It was about the National Science Foundation awarding NDSU $428,000 dollars toward a project called “High Yield Core Luminescent Silicon-Carbide Nanocrystals from Mixed Liquid Precursors.”
Say what? So, I placed a call to NDSU. I talked with Eric Hobbie, and NDSU professor.
"In my lab, we make quantum dots," Hobbe told me. "Do you know what quantum dots are?"
I had to say I didn't.
"Are you familiar with the Q-LED television?," Hobbe said.
Yes, I was familiar with it.
"That uses quantum dot technology," Hobbe said.
Hobbe said the dots are tiny bits of semiconductor.
"And when you shine ultra-violet light on them, they glow — very efficiently and very brightly, in different colors," Hobbe said. "The colors are dictated by their size."
So — what is the issue?
"The brightest materials, particularly at the blue end of the spectrum, are made with toxic things, like lead and cadmium," Hobbe said.
So Hobbe said, the plan is to make those quantum dots with non-toxic materials. — mainly silicon and carbon," Hobbe said. "They are aimed at the blue and green ends of the spectrum."
Hobbe said the application for the dots that NDSU is most interested in uses these dots in biomedical sensors.
"You can think of a real-time fluorescent detector for cancer, or something like that," Hobbe said. "And if you're interested in something like that, you're going to need non-toxic material. That's the appeal to us."
And he said the goal is also to make the dots more available, and affordable.
