The 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry: Quantum dots

The 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Aleksey I. Ekimov (prize share 1/3), Louis E. Brus (prize share 1/3), and Moungi G. Bawendi (prize share 1/3) for groundbreaking inventions in the field of nanotechnology, i.e., for the discovery and synthesis of semiconductor nanocrystals, also termed quantum dots, that exhibit size-dependent physicochemical properties enabled by quantum size effects. This feature article summarizes the main milestones of the discoveries and developments of quantum dots that paved the road to their versatile applications in solid-state lighting, display technology, energy conversion, medical diagnostics, bioimaging, and image-guided surgery.