Activating the dark side reveals brighter nano 'building blocks'

Scientists working to make nanoparticles even smaller, whilst retaining their useful optical properties, believe they have discovered a way to overcome a fundamental physical restraint known as "thermal quenching".

The researchers, from UTS Institute for Biomedical Materials and Devices (IBMD), believe this discovery removes an obstacle to further improvements in resolution and sensitivity in areas such as display technologies, security inks, and bio-imaging, with the potential to stimulate manufacturing innovations in Australia.

To overcome the quenching that dims the brightness of ultra-small nanoparticles, the UTS physicists developed a new type of nanoparticle called "thermal dots". By harvesting heat and thermal energy, and converting this energy to more light emissions, the researchers demonstrated a 1000 fold increase in the brightness of the nanoparticles.