Recent Advances in Synthesis, Characterization and Applications of Functional Nanoparticles and Quantum Dots

Dear Colleagues,

Functional quantum dots (QDs) and nanoparticles (NPs) have been investigated in various areas and considered in widespread applications in recent decades, for example, biomedical, photoluminescence-based or electroluminescent-based lighting and displays, energy harvesting, image or environmental sensing, photocatalysis, and biomimetic and optoelectronic devices. In recent years, QDs and NPs have been gradually taking a more prominent role in our life and being applied in consumer products. One of the most successful cases is QD-color-enhanced displays (that is, so-called QLED TV), which possess an ultrawide color gamut and exhibit a very high color resolution. Moreover, exciting recent developments in QD light convertors in mini-LED or micro-LED based on inkjet printing and photolithography are also very popular research subjects in optoelectronics. On the other hand, the development of the synthesis and preparation of QDs and NPs are always a hot subject in science and industry. Various newer materials such as nontoxic QDs, perovskite QDs, carbon QDs, and so on are being developed and considered in energy harvesting and light conversion. Since January 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has been globally influencing and changing human society and daily life, and research relating to QDs-based biomedical and sensing applications is emerging that shows that QDs are a promising candidate in virus detection and test.

We invite researchers and scientists to submit original research and review papers that will progress the development of QDs/NPs in practical applications and provide potential solutions for current problems and difficulties. The Special Issue is particularly focused on QD/NP material synthesis, polymer/QD film engineering, optoelectronic devices, bio-sensing, and environmental problems. Potential topics include but are not limited to:

• Synthesis and characterization of QDs, polymer/QDs or polymer/NPs nanocomposites;
• Fluorescence, optoelectronic, carrier transport, stability, and other physical properties;
• Self-assembly of QDs or NPs to different nanostructures;
• Biosensing and biomedical applications;
• Lighting and display applications;
• Light harvesting, storage, and sensing;
• OLEDs and QLEDs;
• Explorations of new applications for QDs/NPs;
• Environmental issues of QDs and NPs.

Prof. Dr. Hsueh-Shih (Sean) Chen
Dr. Meng-Lin Tsai
Prof. Dr. Katarzyna Matras-Postołek
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Nanomaterials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.