A Quantum Breakthrough brings a technique from Astronomy to the Nano-scale – UC San Diego and Columbia University

IMAGE: THE DISCOVERY OF MULTI-MESSENGER NANOPROBES ALLOWS SCIENTISTS TO SIMULTANEOUSLY PROBE MULTIPLE PROPERTIES OF QUANTUM MATERIALS AT NANOMETER-SCALE SPATIAL RESOLUTIONS. view more  CREDIT: ELLA MARU STUDIO

Researchers at Columbia University and University of California, San Diego, have introduced a novel “multi-messenger” approach to quantum physics that signifies a technological leap in how scientists can explore quantum materials.

The findings appear in a recent article published in Nature Materials, led by A. S. McLeod, postdoctoral researcher, Columbia Nano Initiative, with co-authors Dmitri Basov and A. J. Millis at Columbia and R.A. Averitt at UC San Diego.

“We have brought a technique from the inter-galactic scale down to the realm of the ultra-small,” said Basov, Higgins Professor of Physics and Director of the Energy Frontier Research Center at Columbia. Equipped with multi-modal nanoscience tools we can now routinely go places no one thought would be possible as recently as five years ago.”

The work was inspired by “multi-messenger” astrophysics, which emerged during the last decade as a revolutionary technique for the study of distant phenomena like black hole mergers. Simultaneous measurements from instruments, including infrared, optical, X-ray and gravitational-wave telescopes can, taken together, deliver a physical picture greater than the sum of their individual parts.

The search is on for new materials that can supplement the current reliance on electronic semiconductors. Control over material properties using light can offer improved functionality, speed, flexibility and energy efficiency for next-generation computing platforms.

Experimental papers on quantum materials have typically reported results obtained by using only one type of spectroscopy. The researchers have shown the power of using a combination of measurement techniques to simultaneously examine electrical and optical properties.

The researchers performed their experiment by focusing laser light onto the sharp tip of a needle probe coated with magnetic material. When thin films of metal oxide are subject to a unique strain, ultra-fast light pulses can trigger the material to switch into an unexplored phase of nanometer-scale domains, and the change is reversible.

By scanning the probe over the surface of their thin film sample, the researchers were able to trigger the change locally and simultaneously manipulate and record the electrical, magnetic and optical properties of these light-triggered domains with nanometer-scale precision.

The study reveals how unanticipated properties can emerge in long-studied quantum materials at ultra-small scales when scientists tune them by strain.

“It is relatively common to study these nano-phase materials with scanning probes. But this is the first time an optical nano-probe has been combined with simultaneous magnetic nano-imaging, and all at the very low temperatures where quantum materials show their merits,” McLeod said. “Now, investigation of quantum materials by multi-modal nanoscience offers a means to close the loop on programs to engineer them.”

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The study, “Multi-messenger nanoprobes of hidden magnetism in a strained manganite,” was developed with support from Programmable Quantum Materials, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the United States Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science and Basic Energy Sciences.

‘Artificial atom’ Created in Graphene ~ What will this Mean? For Quantum Computers? For Quantum Dots?

The charged tip of a scanning tunneling microscope and an additional magnetic field lead to localized stable electron states in graphene. Credit: Nils Freitag, RWTH Aachen

“Artificial atoms open up new, exciting possibilities, because we can directly tune their properties”, says Professor Joachim Burgdörfer (TU Wien, Vienna).In semiconductor materials such as gallium arsenide, trapping electrons in tiny confinements has already been shown to be possible. These structures are often referred to as “quantum dots”. Just like in an atom, where the electrons can only circle the nucleus on certain orbits, electrons in these quantum dots are forced into discrete quantum states.” 

In a tiny quantum prison, electrons behave quite differently as compared to their counterparts in free space. They can only occupy discrete energy levels, much like the electrons in an atom – for this reason, such electron prisons are often called “artificial atoms”.

Artificial atoms may also feature properties beyond those of conventional ones, with the potential for many applications for example in quantum computing. Such additional properties have now been shown for artificial atoms in the carbon material graphene.

The results have been published in the journal Nano Letters, the project was a collaboration of scientists from TU Wien (Vienna, Austria), RWTH Aachen (Germany) and the University of Manchester (GB).

Building Artificial Atoms

“Artificial atoms open up new, exciting possibilities, because we can directly tune their properties”, says Professor Joachim Burgdörfer (TU Wien, Vienna).

 

In semiconductor materials such as gallium arsenide, trapping electrons in tiny confinements has already been shown to be possible. These structures are often referred to as “quantum dots”. Just like in an atom, where the electrons can only circle the nucleus on certain orbits, electrons in these quantum dots are forced into discrete quantum states.

Even more interesting possibilities are opened up by using graphene, a material consisting of a single layer of carbon atoms, which has attracted a lot of attention in the last few years. “In most materials, electrons may occupy two different quantum states at a given energy. The high symmetry of the graphene lattice allows for four different quantum states. This opens up new pathways for quantum information processing and storage” explains Florian Libisch from TU Wien. However, creating well-controlled artificial atoms in graphene turned out to be extremely challenging.

(Left) Florian Libisch, explaining the structure of graphene. Credit: TU Wien

 

 

 

Cutting edge is not enough

There are different ways of creating artificial atoms: The simplest one is putting electrons into tiny flakes, cut out of a thin layer of the material. While this works for graphene, the symmetry of the material is broken by the edges of the flake which can never be perfectly smooth. Consequently, the special four-fold multiplicity of states in graphene is reduced to the conventional two-fold one.

Therefore, different ways had to be found: It is not necessary to use small graphene flakes to capture electrons. Using clever combinations of electrical and magnetic fields is a much better option. With the tip of a scanning tunnelling microscope, an electric field can be applied locally. That way, a tiny region is created within the graphene surface, in which low energy electrons can be trapped. At the same time, the electrons are forced into tiny circular orbits by applying a magnetic field. “If we would only use an electric field, quantum effects allow the electrons to quickly leave the trap” explains Libisch.

The artificial atoms were measured at the RWTH Aachen by Nils Freitag and Peter Nemes-Incze in the group of Professor Markus Morgenstern. Simulations and theoretical models were developed at TU Wien (Vienna) by Larisa Chizhova, Florian Libisch and Joachim Burgdörfer. The exceptionally clean graphene sample came from the team around Andre Geim and Kostya Novoselov from Manchester (GB) – these two researchers were awarded the Nobel Prize in 2010 for creating graphene sheets for the first time.

The new artificial atoms now open up new possibilities for many quantum technological experiments: “Four localized electron states with the same energy allow for switching between different quantum states to store information”, says Joachim Burgdörfer.

The electrons can preserve arbitrary superpositions for a long time, ideal properties for quantum computers. In addition, the new method has the big advantage of scalability: it should be possible to fit many such artificial atoms on a small chip in order to use them for quantum information applications.

Explore further: Physicists create artificial ‘graphene’

More information: Nils M. Freitag et al, Electrostatically Confined Monolayer Graphene Quantum Dots with Orbital and Valley Splittings, Nano Letters (2016). DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.6b02548

Journal reference: Nano Letters

Provided by: Vienna University of Technology

 

 

Is there a “Fourth” State of Water? Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL) Discovers Bizarre Fourth State of Water ~ P.S. This is Way “Cool” … Should be Featured in the Next Star Trek! (plus Video)

A sample of beryl and an illustration that shows the strange shape water molecules take when found in the mineral’s cage-like channels (Credit: ORNL/Jeff Scovil)

You already know that water can have three states of matter: solid, liquid and gas. But scientists at the Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL) have discovered that when it’s put under extreme pressure in small spaces, the life-giving liquid can exhibit a strange fourth state known as tunneling.

The water under question was found in super-small six-sided channels in the mineral beryl, which forms the basis for the gems aquamarine and emerald. The channels measure only about five atoms across and function basically as cages that can each trap one water molecule. What the researchers found was that in this incredibly tight space, the water molecule exhibited a characteristic usually only seen at the much smaller quantum level, called tunneling.

Basically, quantum tunneling means that a particle, or in this case a molecule, can overcome a barrier and be on both sides of it at once – or anywhere between. Think of rolling a ball down one side of a hill and up another. The second hill is the barrier and the ball would only have enough energy to climb it to the height from which it was originally dropped. If the second hill was taller, the ball wouldn’t be able to roll over it. That’s classical physics. Quantum physics and the concept of tunneling means the ball could jump to the other side of the hill with ease or even be found inside the hill – or on both sides of the hill at once.

“In classical physics the atom cannot jump over a barrier if it does not have enough energy for this,” ORNL instrument scientist Alexander Kolesnikov tells Gizmag – Kolesnikov is lead author on a paper detailing the discovery published in the April 22 issue of the journal Physical Review Letters. But in the case of the beryl-trapped water his team studied, the water molecules acted according to quantum – not classical – laws of physics.

“This means that the oxygen and hydrogen atoms of the water molecule are ‘delocalized’ and therefore simultaneously present in all six symmetrically equivalent positions in the channel at the same time,” says Kolesnikov. “It’s one of those phenomena that only occur in quantum mechanics and has no parallel in our everyday experience.”

By using neutron-scattering experiments, the researchers were able to see that the water molecules spread themselves into two corrugated rings, one inside the other. At the center of the ring, the hydrogen atom, which is one third of the water molecule, took on six different orientations at one time. “Tunneling among these orientations means the hydrogen atom is not located at one position, but smeared out in a ring shape,” says a report in the online news journal Physics.

“This discovery represents a new fundamental understanding of the behavior of water and the way water utilizes energy,” says ORNL co-author Lawrence Anovitz. “It’s also interesting to think that those water molecules in your aquamarine or emerald ring – blue and green varieties of beryl – are undergoing the same quantum tunneling we’ve seen in our experiments.”

Because the ORNL team discovered this new property of water but not exactly why and how it works, Anovitz also says that the finding is sure to get scientists working to uncover the mechanism that leads to the phenomenon.

Kolesnikov adds that the discovery could have implications wherever water is found in extremely tight spaces such as in cell membranes or inside carbon nanotubes. The following video from ORNL provides more details on the discovery.

ORNL researchers discover a new state of Water Molecule: Video

Canada: University of B.C. – Minister Holder Announces Investment in Quantum Materials Research and Future Technologies

The University of British Columbia awarded major grant from Canada First Research Excellence Fund competition

 VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, Jul 30, 2015 (Marketwired via COMTEX) — Tri-Agency Institutional Programs

Canada could be propelled to the forefront of quantum materials research thanks to an investment by the government into a new research program at the University of British Columbia. The Quantum Matter Institute, which is already acknowledged as a global leader in its field, will use the funds to explore and develop high-tech quantum materials that could lead to pioneering technology in Canada in computing and electronic devices.

Today’s announcement follows an open and competitive selection process among Canadian universities and colleges, judged by a panel of Canadian and international experts.

Quick Facts

Launched in December 2014 by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the Canada First Research Excellence Fund will invest $1.5 billion over seven years to propel Canadian colleges and universities to excel globally in research areas that create long-term economic advantages for Canadians.

Today’s award is part of the Fund’s first $350 million competition. — The Fund is administered by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) on behalf of the three granting agencies: the SSHRC, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

As set out in Economic Action Plan 2015 and the renewed science, technology and innovation strategy, the Government is committed to supporting world-class research talent and infrastructure that is essential to advanced discoveries in both the public and private sectors.

Quotes

“Our government is investing in research and innovation to create jobs, strengthen the economy and improve the quality of life of Canadians. UBC’s Quantum Matter Institute will push Canada to become a world leader in quantum research, develop new industries around this revolutionary field, and create new jobs and opportunities for Canadians.”

-Ed Holder, Minister of State (Science and Technology)

“The Canada First Research Excellence Fund has provided Canadian universities with an unparalleled opportunity to take their leading-edge research and make it the best in the world. This will set them on course to make groundbreaking discoveries that will enhance prosperity and change the lives of Canadians and millions around the world forever.”

-Ted Hewitt, President, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada; and Chair, Canada First Research Excellence Fund steering committee

“We are thrilled with the federal government’s vision to invest $66.5 million to help establish UBC as a global centre for high-tech quantum materials research. The groundbreaking scientific discoveries in this field have the potential to create practical applications that could spur new industries and employment here and abroad and provide significant public benefits in areas like health and the environment.”

-Arvind Gupta, President and Vice-chancellor, University of British Columbia:

“UBC’s quantum matter community is extremely excited about today’s funding announcement. Support from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund will propel our Quantum Matter Institute (QMI) to the forefront of the field internationally. By enabling us to fully exploit QMI’s state-of-the-art infrastructure and further strengthening our international partnerships, especially with the Max Planck Society of Germany, this Fund will advance Canada’s position as a global leader in quantum materials and future technologies.”

-Andrea Damascelli, Director, Quantum Matter Institute, University of British Columbia

UBC physicists working on Quantum Material ‘Revolution’

Research applications of ‘superconductivity’ could include laptop-sized MRI scanners

Scientists at the University of B.C. hope that $1.7 million in provincial funding will help them make a breakthrough that could lead to levitating trains and cars.

The money from the B.C. Knowledge Development Fund is going to the Quantum Matter Institute to help a team of scientists led by physics professor Andrea Damascelli. They’re working to develop new quantum materials, which have unique properties such as zero electrical resistance, known as superconductivity.

The only problem is that to achieve those unique properties, existing quantum materials have to be cooled to extreme temperatures, which makes them costly and cumbersome to use in practical applications.

But Damascelli and his team are hoping to change that. They’ll be trying to create quantum materials that exhibit their strange properties at room temperature so they can be widely used outside of high-tech labs such as the one he runs at UBC.

Damascelli believes quantum materials will have a bigger impact on our lives than the semiconductor, which was invented in 1947 and laid the groundwork for the integrated circuit and the computer revolution that has so shaped the contemporary world.

“Today, I feel that we’re on the cusp of an even bigger revolution,” Damascelli said Monday. “This is a quantum material revolution, which I believe will have a much larger impact on our lives.”

Damascelli predicted that when quantum materials with superconductivity properties can operate at room temperature, they could be used to reduce the size of an MRI scanner from a huge, bulky machine that weighs several thousand kilograms to one as small and light as a laptop.

Other applications include making super-efficient electrical transmission lines and trains and other vehicles that levitate on magnetic tracks.

“We would be able to have many applications, many possibilities that we can’t even imagine at this stage,” he said at the announcement of the provincial funding in the atrium of the UBC Earth Science Building.

Afterwards, Damascelli gave a display of magnetic levitation at the institute. In his lab, he placed a quantum material known was YBCO (which is made of yttrium barium copper oxide) into a container and then poured in liquid nitrogen that cooled the substance to -196 C.

After a few moments, he took it out with tongs and placed it on a small oval track made from numerous flat magnets. At rest, the YBCO levitated a short distance above the track in the magnetic envelope created by the magnets below. Once he gave it a little push, the six-sided piece of YBCO sped around the track so effortlessly and without any visible means of support, it looked like a magic trick.

As it warmed, it lost its superconductivity, slowed, and came to rest on the magnets. To show the effect of insulation, Damascelli placed the YBCO in a blue Styrofoam boat. On the track, it completed several more loops than the YBCO without insulation, before it too warmed and came to a halt.

Damascelli said funding is key to allow QMI to create new quantum materials with precision down to the atomic level. His team will be making them layer by layer in ultra-high-vacuum conditions and be able to observe individual electrons moving through solids without ever exposing materials to air.

“We will strive to achieve new functional properties, in particular room-temperature superconductivity,” he said.

He said money from the BCKDF has allowed QMI to attract top researchers from around the world. QMI is in a collaborative venture with the Max Planck Society of Germany.

Minister of Technology, Innovation and Citizens’ Services Andrew Wilkinson announced the funding for QMI as one of the 70 projects at UBC receiving $26.9 million this year from the BCKDF.

Founded in 1998, the B.C. Knowledge Development Fund funds research infrastructure projects in post-secondary institutions, research hospitals and affiliated non-profit agencies. Typically, the fund contributes 40 per cent of project costs and the federal Canada Foundation for Innovation another 40 per cent. The remaining 20 per cent comes from other sources that include the private sector.

Nano-Materials Company Engineers Tetrapod Quantum Dots to Improve Diagnostic Accuracy of Biomedical Assays and Devices

SAN MARCOS, Texas, Nov. 7, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — Quantum Materials Corp. announced today that it has provided Tetrapod Quantum Dots (TQD) to an advanced medical device manufacturer to optimize performance of an “engineered spectrum” quantum dot-enabled light source to better provide useful data to researchers and practitioners that has not been easily discernible until now.

David Doderer, Vice President of R&D, explained, “We are fulfilling specific requests for  tetrapod quantum dots, in this case,  to create tailored light for investigation of tissue.  Differences between healthy and suspect tissue often can be better identified if the available fluorophores’ color combination is engineered for either true representation of color, or emphasized in the visible spectrum depending on the tissue type. I think our bespoke tetrapod quantum dots provide the depth of data necessary to highlight subtle differences that researchers and healthcare professionals need to efficiently understand disease and devise effective treatments.”

To achieve efficient healthcare in an increasingly demanding marketplace, the ability to get actionable information is crucial. Medical diagnostic assays currently count in the multi-millions per year and per country, and differences in tissues types at the cellular level are critically important for accuracy in results.  Conventional organic dyes and other types of fluorophores are currently used for luminescence in assays by researchers, but they have limitations sometimes preventing clear distinctions in reading the data. Broad data sets can tend to obscure patterns that might become clear by removing these uncertainties.

Tetrapod quantum dots address this issue well for biochemical detection and biomedical device application by providing a broad array of colors, which translates to increased number of pieces in the data set, and also precise tune-ability and stability for high contrast and distinctive identification certainty.  For biochemical detection, most typically in a rapid assay that provides a breadth of data in a single test kit, Quantum Materials has begun conversations with biotech researchers and companies needing narrow color emissions to provide clear identification when identifying particular targets by attaching to the desired organism or cell type when specifically functionalized.

As part of this effort, the Company is developing a suitable TQD film for medical devices while maintaining consistency in both uniformity and scalability. The Company believes this technology, one of several under review, could also successfully translate into Tetrapod Quantum Dot film applications such as general light applications, electronic displays and quantum dot solar cells.

 

 

 

 

Quantum Materials Corp. manufactures Tetrapod Quantum Dots for use in medical, display, solar energy and lighting applications through patent pending continuous-flow production process.  Quantum dot semiconductors enable a new level of engineered performance in a wide array of established consumer and industrial products. QMC’s volume manufacturing methods enable consistent QD quality and scalable cost reductions to drive innovative discovery to commercial success.

Safe Harbor statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995

This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties concerning business, products, and financial results. Actual results may differ materially from the results predicted. More information about potential risk factors that could affect our business, products, and financial results are included in our annual report and in reports subsequently filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). All documents are available through the SEC’s EDGAR System at http://www.sec.gov/ or www.QMCdots.com. We hereby disclaim any obligation to publicly update the information provided above, including forward-looking statements, to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.

Global Quantum Dots Market to Grow by 54.29% CAGR

TechNavio’s analysts forecast the Global Quantum Dots market to grow at a CAGR of 54.29 percent over the period 2012-2016. One of the key factors contributing to this market growth is the increasing number of quantum dots-based products.

The Global Quantum Dots market has also been witnessing the increasing adoption of quantum dots by life sciences and biomedical communities. However, the high cost of quantum dots could pose a challenge to the growth of this market.

TechNavio’s report, the Global Quantum Dots Market 2012-2016, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the Americas, and the EMEA and APAC regions; it also covers the Global Quantum Dots market landscape and its growth prospects in the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.

The key vendors dominating this market space are Life Technologies corp., eBioscience Inc., Ocean Nanotech LLC., and QD Vision Inc.

The other vendors mentioned in the report are Nanoco Technologies Ltd., Nanosys Inc., Selah Technologies Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Altair Nanotechnologies Inc., Evident Technologies Inc., InVisage Technologies Inc., LG Display Co. Ltd., Microvision Inc., Microoled, Nano Axis LLC, NN-labs Inc., Nexxus Lighting Inc., QD Laser Inc., Quantum Material Corp., Sigma-Aldrich Co. LLC, Solexant Corp., and Voxtel Inc.

Got Quantum Dots? Seeking to Impact Our Lives (for the better) through Nanotechnology

 Got Quantum Dots?

 

A Nanotechnology and Applied Materials company, Quantum Materials Corporation (QMC), explains that Quantum dots refer to one of several promising materials niche sectors that recently have emerged from tremendous nanotechnology advances in chemistry and materials processing in the past two decades, and fall into the category of nano-crystals, which also includes quantum rods and nanowires. QMC believes there are abundant opportunities  to commercialize the many applications emerging now in this arena … and QMC intends to capitalize on those opportunities! (See potential Applications Below)

As a materials subset, quantum dots are characterized by synthetic nano-materials particles fabricated to the smallest of dimensions from only a few atoms and upwards. At these tiny dimensions, they behave according to the rules of quantum physics, which describe the behavior of atoms and sub atomic particles, in contrast to classical physics that describes the behavior of bulk materials. In other words, objects consisting of many atoms.

Quantum Dots measure near one billionth of an inch and are a non-traditional type of semiconductor that can be used as an enabling material across many industries that is unparalleled in versatility and flexible in form.

Quantum Materials Corporation (QMC) is now commercializing a low cost quantum dot technology of a superior quality and characteristics. This revolutionary new quantum dot production technique, developed by Dr. Michael S. Wong and colleagues at Houston’s William Marsh Rice University, has been acquired under an exclusive, world-wide license. QMC’s new synthesis method is mass producible using continuous flow technology processes developed in conjunction with Access2Flow micro-reactor technology. QMC’s research and development group was instrumental in developing the new scaling-up process.

Rice University Quantum Dot Synthesis

Dr. Wong’s Rice University lab invented a simplified synthesis using greener fluids in a moderate temperature process producing same-sized QD particles, in which more than 95 percent are tetrapods; where previously even in the best recipe less than 50 percent of the prepared particles were all same size and tetrapods. These highly efficient tetrapod QD are available across the entire light wavelength from UV to IR spectra and very narrow bandwidth is common. Selectivity of arm width and length is very high allowing different characteristics to be emphasized. Capping with shells and dyes adds desired properties. A custom mixture of quantum dots tuned to optimal wavelengths is easy to create, and projects will have the advantage of unprecedented flexibility and quantities for determining the optimal quantum dot without the time, expense and poor quality of batch synthesis methods.

Moreover, the Rice process uses much cheaper raw materials and fewer purification steps. A positively charged molecule called cetyltrimethylammonium bromide provides this dramatic improvement in tetrapod manufacture. This compound, found in some shampoos, also is 100 times cheaper than alkylphosphonic acids currently used and is far safer, further simplifying the manufacturing process.

With the underlying theme of designing and engineering novel materials for catalytic and encapsulation applications, Dr. Wong’s research interests lie in the areas of nanostructured materials (e.g. nanoporous materials, nanoparticle-based hollow spheres, and quantum dots), heterogeneous catalysis, and bioengineering applications. He is particularly interested in developing new chemical approaches to assembling nanoparticles into functional macrostructures.

QD Nanotech Applications

Current and future applications of quantum dots impact a broad range of industrial markets. These include, for example, biology and biomedicine; computing and memory; electronics and displays; optoelectronic devices such as LEDs, lighting, and lasers; optical components used in telecommunications; and security applications such as covert identification tagging or biowarfare detection sensors. All of these markets can move from laboratory discovery to commercialization as QMC scales production of quantum dots to robust levels. They include:

IN VITRO analysis for cells and biological systems:

Quantum dots make improvements in the quality of marking in both brightness and time to study (hours instead of minutes).

IN VIVO selective tissue marking:

Quantum dots have been used for lymph node mapping and vascular and deep tissue imaging. This use has the potential to be much more significant for disease control and cure than any other current pharmacological technology.

QD Printing Applications

Quantum Materials Corporation has the exclusive worldwide license to proprietary quantum dot printing technologies developed by Dr. Ghassan Jabbour. This pioneering technology makes significant improvements over prior art.

Displays:

Quantum Dot LED as well as nanoparticle LED/OLED based displays now have the potential to be manufactured using very high volume, low cost roll-to-roll print processing on inexpensive substrates, with potential to deliver a significantly lower price point combined with higher definition, increased viewing angles, lower power consumption, and reduced response time for enhanced display imaging in a very thin, light weight, format.

Lighting:

Tetrapod quantum dots and printing technologies can be printed and applied to certain lighting applications delivering high brightness, true color balance, long life and low energy consumption for highest efficiency. As global consumption of electricity in the world increases dramatically, energy efficiency through better electronics and lighting is a key to reducing the overall burden on power production and the expected increases in greenhouse gas emissions.

Thermoelectrics:

Thermoelectric devices are notoriously inefficient, and many researchers are working diligently on nanocomposite materials, such as quantum dots that artificially induce phonon scattering, thereby inhibiting heat transfer due to lattice vibrations while facilitating electron and hole conduction.

Photonics & Telecommunications:

Quantum dots open potential to develop optical switches, modulators, and other devices that rely upon nonlinear optics, with the aim of creating faster, cheaper, and more powerful optical telecommunication components.

Security Inks:

Inks and paints incorporating quantum dots, nanoscale semiconductor particles, can be tuned to emit light at specific wavelengths in the visible and infrared portion of the spectra.

While currently marketing its tetrapod quantum dot technology to end users in the Printed Electronic, LED, and Solar markets, QMC is specifically focusing efforts on capturing a significant market share of the 2013 forecast estimated over $100MM by BCC Research for quantum dots in Bioscience applications. To accomplish this, QMC says it will demonstrate its tetrapod quantum dots’ superiority over standard spherical quantum dots to its diverse customer base.

MarketsandMarkets 2012 Quantum Dot Global Forecast predicts total QD sales of $7.48 Billion by 2022 in a wide range of QD applications. Quantum Materials believes that its provision of an accessible supply of quantum dots enables potential partners to now strategically develop commercially viable quantum dot products.

A company, Quantum Materials Corporation, is delivering tetrapod quantum dots to a client studying dual emission effects in sensitive force sensing environments. Dual-emitting tetrapod QD sensors can measure very minute stresses such as those of a heartbeat by reading the changing variance of luminescence response emitted as the tetrapod quantum dots arms bend. Nano-probes of this type are poised to be a platform technology providing optical readout for many other biomechanical processes.

This unique ability of the tetrapod quantum dot helps it to outshine the more common spherically shaped quantum dot.

QMC says in a release that its patented synthesis allows precise control of tetrapod quantum dot composition, size of QD core, length of arms, and arm thickness, and this ability to design the tetrapod characteristics allows optimization to control the tetrapod’s reaction to stress and thereby tune the light emissions for different applications.

QMC with its Patented Technologies receiving the prestigious Frost and Sullivan Award “Best Practices Award” for Advanced Quantum Dot Manufacturing Enabling Technology”, is the singular company that can provide industrial-scale quantities of tetrapod quantum dots, customized client’s needs, with the uniformity and reliability necessary to feed the demands of large scale commercial operations.

Collaboration with Texas State’s Material Science, Engineering and Commercialization Doctoral Program exemplifies that institution’s powerful commitment to advancing nanotechnology “Research with Relevance” and parallels Quantum Materials’ own strategy to convert advanced quantum dot research into successful products. Texas State is creating a team environment for innovation by attracting internationally renowned faculty, encouraging cross-pollination across different scientific disciplines, and supporting STAR Park’s growth environment.

“Quantum Materials is a great example of the kind of collaborative effort Texas State University is interested in creating through STAR Park. The firm will have access to experienced faculty and specialized facilities that will support joint R&D efforts.

 

 

Quantum Dot Mass Production Breakthrough Achieved

PRNewswire/ — An Advanced Materials emerging Nanotechnology company has announced a new microreactor and software controlled continuous flow process has been successfully developed and operated for delivery of mass produced quantum dots. This new quantum dot production process replaces batch synthesis and has potential for high improvement in both yield and conversion. Tetrapod Quantum Dots are used in a variety of emerging applications including solid state lighting, QLED displays, nanobio applications and for 3rd Generation solar cells in solar panels. QD-Tetrapods have proven to have superior performance characteristics surpassing spherical nanoparticles in a number of nano-applications including Nano-Bio (delivery) and Nano-Solar (increased harvesting and efficiencies).

The inherent design of the microreactor allows for commercial-scale 0f parallel modules to achieve large production rates in a regulated, optimized system. This breakthrough production process enables both the low cost, high volume production of quantum dots, and also provides flexibility in the choice of materials used to produce the quantum dots including heavy metal free (Cadmium Free) quantum dots and other biologically inert materials.

Quantum dots have been widely recognized for their potential in next generation display technologies, solar cells, LEDs, OLEDs, computer memory, printed electronics and a vast array of security, biomedical and energy storage applications. According to research group BCC Research, the 2010 global market for quantum dots was estimated $67 million in revenues, and is projected to grow quickly over the next 5 years at greater than 50% per year reaching almost $670 million by 2015. The nanomaterials enabled market grew to $263 billion USD in 2012.

For the first time this technology offers to manufacturers that it is now realistic to test the advantages of quantum dots to establish higher performance benchmarks across a number of industries and product applications. Many discoveries and commercial applications have been developmentally slowed by the lack of high quality and consistent quantum dots. Correspondingly high costs, have also proved to be a barrier to entry and development of otherwise commercially poised nanomaterials enabled applications. This technology removes the roadblock from widespread adoption of the quantum dot as a basic building block of technology and services much like the silicon chip that has ubiquitously advanced corporate function and consumer lifestyles worldwide.

“Our goal from the onset has been to achieve a production rate of 100kg per day with a 95% or greater yield,” according to the Founder and CEO. He added that “with this breakthrough we have coupled two disruptive technologies resulting in the potential to now achieve that goal.”

According to the company’s internationally recognized CTO,  “Besides the scalability indicated, in my opinion, the truly remarkable accomplishment in this breakthrough is its adaptability to other inorganic metals and elements, including cadmium-free Quantum Dots.”

The Company has a steadfast vision that advanced technology is the solution to global issues related to cost, efficiency and increasing energy usage. Quantum dot semiconductors enable a new level of performance in a wide array of established consumer and industrial products, including low cost flexible solar cells, low power lighting and displays and biomedical research applications.

The Company intends to invigorate these markets through cost reduction and moving laboratory discovery to commercialization with volume manufacturing methods to establish a growing line of innovative high performance products.

Safe Harbor statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995

This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties concerning our business, products, and financial results. Actual results may differ materially from the results predicted. More information about potential risk factors that could affect our business, products, and financial results are included in our annual report and in reports subsequently filed by us with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). All documents are available through the SEC’s Electronic Data Gathering Analysis and Retrieval System (EDGAR) at http://www.sec.gov/ or from our website. We hereby disclaim any obligation to publicly update the information provided above, including forward-looking statements, to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.

Green Energy Wall Street Wonder in The Making! QTMM

Posted by Greenergy News on Jan 28th, 2012 and filed under Featured, Tech. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

The beauty of this quantum dot is its ubiquitous use in so many life changing applications.

It’s all about a company that can make copious amounts of quantum dots for nanotechnology that the average person doesn’t understand, doesn’t know if you can see it with the naked eye, hasn’t a clue how it is used, what it is used for or what it even is.

I first read in Motley Fool a statement and loved it because it is so true, So, I’ll relay it again “the secret to making a fortune in the stock market is to identify a unique growth business poised to dominate a mass market.” You’ll want to remember that and invest for the future in nanotechnology. One company that meets the criteria as a growth business that will dominate a mass market is Quantum Materials Corp with their Tetrapod Quantum Dot’s (TQD).  They have multiple uses in a wide array of applications in many different sectors…not just solar, medical and visual displays.

Those were the primary reasons that I invested in this stock in the 1st place and as more and more uses for quantum dots are discovered every day,  it re-enforces that I made the right decision….”it’s the same as having ‘a diversified portfolio , all in one stock’.”[1]  An investment in this nanotechnology company that most people know nothing about is going to change how the world develops in ways completely unimaginative to most.

Tissue welding with lasers during surgery, selective cell isolation to eradicate cancers, Solar cells with up to 65% efficiency, displays that pop with vibrant colors, power consumption 50% less than existing means, 3D TV’s that could go into the realm of holographic realism, clothing and paints that change color with the whim of your desires.

Sounds far fetched?
So was Dick Tracy’s 2 way wrist radio/TV watch in 1964, precursor to cell phones today. The Quantum Materials Corporation developed the method to mass produce a nanocrystal called a QUANTUM DOT that will follow the world-changing technologies like Plastics 1920′s – 40′s, Biotech 1940′s – 60-s, Internet 1970′s – 90′s and now Nanotech.

The last press release with NanoAxis using Quantum Materials Corp TQD’s in their Cancer, Diabetes, Alzheimer’s and depression research was eye opening. http://www.prweb.com/releases/2011/9/prweb8794822.htm

Multiple applications like that in one sector of one market give credence to the depth of this technology into the diverse commercial markets opening up. Opto-electronics and the display screens that save energy proposed in the new QDLED for the iPhone 5 [2]  to the household light bulbs will all use Quantum Dots. Anything that has color associated with it is a candidate for QD use.

How broad is that? And the amazing part of this is it goes both ways. Not only do quantum dots give off vibrant light in every visible color spectrum but they absorb light in every spectrum to generate electricity.

Solar cells will power devices 24/7. This day and night production of electricity uses solar cells that generate power from the ultraviolet thru visible to the infrared lighting range to produce their power. To be more descriptive, sunlight at zenith (climax or high point) provides an irradiance of just over 1 kilowatt per square meter at sea level. Of this energy 527 watts is infrared radiation, 445 watts is visible light, and 32 watts is ultraviolet radiation. The wafer type solar cells available today can only process visible light. That leaves out over half of the energy available from IR and the remainder in the UV. 56% of the available energy to be converted to electricity is LOST using today’s solar cells.

Tomorrow using the Solterra Renewable Technology flexible solar cell you will be able to capture that lost energy in the IR and UV region. And what is really exciting about this new Nanotechnology with Tetrapod Quantum Dots is it’s absorption capability 24 hours a day! Like enhanced night vision goggles the IR at night (although it would be a small amount) is enough to continue generation of power around the clock.

You can’t say now that you didn’t have a chance to look into what could be the next Wall Street Wonder company with return potentials like Dell, Microsoft, Apple and Amazon had.

Investigate Quantum Materials Corp – ticker QTMM and follow the company developments, just don’t watch another life time opportunity pass you by. Life is too short waiting for the next one to come by.