QUANTUM DOTS

May 30 2025HEALTH

Crafting a Sensitive Tool for Early Cancer Detection

Scientists have been working on a new way to spot tiny bits of genetic material linked to liver cancer. They used a special kind of tiny particle called silver-doped cadmium telluride quantum dots. These dots give off a strong light signal when electricity is applied. This light signal is much stronger than what you get from regular quantum dots. The silver in th...

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May 10 2025SCIENCE

Merging Worlds: How Tiny Dots and Thin Sheets Work Together

The world of tech is always looking for new ways to make devices smarter. One exciting area is using tiny particles called quantum dots and ultra-thin materials. Quantum dots are great at absorbing light and can be tuned to different colors. Thin materials, like those used in some screens, allow for fast-moving electric charges. But what happens when you combine thes...

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Apr 30 2025ENVIRONMENT

Detecting Chlorothalonil with Glowing Dots

Chlorothalonil, often shortened to CHT, is a tough chemical to deal with. It sticks around in the environment for a long time, builds up in living things, and can even seep into our water supplies. This makes it crucial to have a straightforward way to spot it. Most fluorescent probes, which are tools that glow to show the presence of certain substances, aren't great...

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Mar 23 2025SCIENCE

Brilliant Braces: The Power of Quantum Dots in Orthodontics

A new study has been looking into a special kind of glue for braces. This glue has tiny bits of zinc oxide, called quantum dots. These dots are so small that they can't be seen with the naked eye. The goal was to see if this glue could do more than just hold braces in place. It turns out, it might be able to do a lot more. First off, the glue was tested for its abil...

reading time about 2 minutes
Mar 11 2025SCIENCE

Silver Selenide Quantum Dots: A Double-Edged Sword for the Brain

Silver selenide quantum dots, or Ag2Se QDs, are tiny particles with amazing optical properties. They're great for imaging tumors, but their small size lets them sneak past the brain's protective barrier. This raises concerns about potential harm to the central nervous system. To tackle this issue, scientists used a special tool called the adverse outcome pathway (AOP...

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Jan 25 2025SCIENCE

Fighting Worms: Can Nanotech Help Tackle Resistant Parasites?

Strongyle worms are a big problem for farms. They cause huge losses, and current medicines like Ivermectin aren't working as well as they used to. Scientists are trying something new by creating tiny dots of carbon called Carbon Quantum Dots (CQDs) and adding copper to some for extra power, making them Copper-Doped CQDs (Cu@CQDs). They tested these against worms in t...

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Jan 08 2025SCIENCE

Tiny Titanium Dots: A Big Shield Against Electromagnetic Waves

Have you ever wondered how tiny particles can protect us from electronic interference? Titanium disulfide quantum dots, or TiS₂QDs, are tiny but mighty. These dots have unique electronic and optical properties, making them super interesting for research. But how effective are they as shields against electromagnetic interference (EMI)? It depends on things like their ...

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Dec 25 2024TECHNOLOGY

The Secret to Brighter LEDs: Inorganic Ligands in Quantum Dots

Quantum dots (QDs) are tiny particles with amazing abilities in optoelectronics. You might have seen them in your TV or phone screens, thanks to their special light-emitting properties. These QDs work best in light-emitting diodes (LEDs) when they have inorganic ligands. Ligands are like tiny helpers that keep QDs stable and give them special powers. Why are inorgan...

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Dec 23 2024TECHNOLOGY

PbS Quantum Dots: A New Twist for Multitask Computing

These days, with the explosion of data and the growth of the internet of things, we need devices that can sense and process information in many ways at once. Taking a cue from how our human senses work, scientists have created a clever system called an optoelectronic-memristor-based reservoir computing (OM-RC) system. This system uses a mix of materials called CuSCN ...

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Nov 21 2024SCIENCE

Detecting Copper Ions with Graphene: A Fluorometric and Visual Approach

Scientists have discovered a new way to detect copper ions (Cu²⁺) using tiny particles called graphene quantum dots (GQDs). Here's how it works: when copper ions and a chemical called ascorbate mix, they create a reaction that makes highly reactive hydroxyl radicals (·OH). These radicals can mess with the structure of GQDs, causing them to lose their fluorescence. By...

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