SBIR Phase I: Commercial Scale Production of a New Generation of Nanocrystal Emitters---Doped Quantum Dots

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）项目将为新一代量子点发射器，掺杂量子点（d-dots）发射器建立自动化商业规模生产计划。与当前用于本征量子点的工场（基于CdSe的纳米晶体）不同，这种新一代的量子点发射器基于掺杂有过渡金属离子的锌硫族化物纳米晶体，因此将不涉及重金属离子。该SBIR团队最近发明了具有明亮、可调谐和纯掺杂剂发射的高质量d点，其实质上优于文献中报道的任何d点。尽管它们的内在毒性低，但这些新发明的d-点的性能在几个重要方面超过了q-点，例如零自猝灭、高热稳定性、高耐久性和对各种表面处理的高适用性。这些高性能的d-dot发射器非常符合严格的环境政策。例如，在2006年夏天，欧盟开始禁止含有任何数量的国际添加的重金属，即镉（Cd），汞（Hg）和铅（Pb）的任何产品。预期这些高性能和低固有毒性的d-dots将为几个重要的工业部门提供急需的平台，即，固态照明、生物医学诊断、药物开发、LED、激光器和传感器。在商业上，作为一种平台技术，高质量d点的成功生产将为光电、医学和传感领域的许多应用提供巨大的机会。例如，d点是固态照明的理想发射器，这产生了节能和安全的照明设备。高质量的d点也将使基于LED的显示技术更加可行。除了出色的性能外，d-dots不含任何臭名昭著的重金属离子。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project will establish automated commercial-scale production schemes for a new generation of quantum dot emitters, doped quantum dots (d-dots) emitters. Different from the current workhouse for intrinsic quantum dots, CdSe based nanocrystals, this new generation of nanocrystal emitters is based on zinc chalcogenide nanocrystals doped with transition metal ions, and thus no heavy metal ions will be involved. High quality d-dots with bright, tunable, and pure dopant emission have recently been invented by this SBIR team, which is substantially better than any d-dots reported in literature. Despite their low intrinsic toxicity, the performance of these newly invented d-dots exceeds that of q-dots in several important aspects, such as zero self-quenching, high thermal stability, high durability, and high suitability for a variety of surface treatments. These high performance d-dot emitters nicely comply with stringent environmental policies. For instance, in 2006 summer, European Union starts banning any products containing any amount of internationally added heavy metals, namely, cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg), and lead (Pb). It is expected that these high performance and low intrinsical toxicity d-dots will provide a much needed platform for several important industrial sectors, i.e., solid state lighting, bio-medical diagnostics, drug development, LEDs, lasers, and sensors.Commercially, as a platform technology, successful production of high quality d-dots will offer grand opportunities for many applications in optoelectronic, medical, and sensing fields. For instance, d-dots are ideal emitters for solid state lighting, which yields energy-saving and safe lighting devices. High quality d-dots will also make LED based display technology more feasible. In addition to their outstanding performance, d-dots don't contain any infamous heavy metal ions.