"Traditional semiconductors are single crystals, grown in vacuum under special conditions. These we can make in large numbers, in flask, in a lab and we've shown they are as good as the best single crystals," said David Hanifi, lead author of the study.
The researchers focused on how efficiently quantum dots re-emit the light they absorb, one tell-tale measure of semiconductor quality. While previous attempts to figure out quantum dot efficiency hinted at high performance, this is the first measurement method to confidently show they could compete with single crystals, according to the team of researchers.
The hope is that this measurement technique could lead to the development of new technologies and materials that require knowing the efficiency of our semiconductors to a painstaking degree. "These materials are so efficient that existing measurements were not capable of quantifying just how good they are. This is a giant leap forward," said Paul Alivisatos, the Samsung Distinguished Professor of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology at the University of California, Berkeley, who is senior author of the paper. "It may someday enable applications that require materials with luminescence efficiency well above 99 per cent, most of which haven't been invented yet."