Quantum Dots and 2D Metals | 17 May 2025

Source: TH 

Quantum dots and 2D metals have revolutionized nanomaterials, driving advances in electronics, diagnostics, and sustainable technologies. 

• Quantum dots are semiconductors just a few nanometres wide, displaying unique properties due to quantum confinement, where electrons are restricted in all dimensions. 
  • Quantum confinement leads to altered electron energy states, crucial for the behavior of zero-dimensional materials like quantum dots. 
  • Applications of quantum dots include LEDs, medical diagnostics, solar panels, and semiconductor fabrication, earning the 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. 
• Efforts to create 2D metals faced challenges as metals naturally prefer 3D bonding, making atomically thin, stable 2D metal sheets elusive. 
  • 2D metals are just 1 or 2 atoms thin sheets of metals where electrons move only in two dimensions (length & width), unlike bulk metals where electrons move freely in 3 dimensions (length, width, height). 
  • Applications of 2D metals include super-sensitive sensors with applications ranging from medicine to the military. 
  • 2D bismuth and tin are expected to be topological insulators, conducting electricity only along their edges, with edge magnetization offering potential for faster future computers. 
• 2D materials, like graphene, allow electrons to move in two dimensions, showing massless behavior and exotic properties.