Spotlight Publication: “Fluorescent Colloidal Ferroelectric Nanocrystals” published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society
About the author: Cara Bradsher earned her Ph.D. in October 2021 under the direction of Dr. Sandra Rosenthal and is currently working as a research scientist in nanoparticle research and development in San Diego. Her Ph.D. work focused on the introduction of ferroelectric properties in quantum dots through cation exchange. In recently published work, she focused on fluorescence retention in ferroelectric, cadmium-based semiconductor nanoparticles. This was achieved through protective CdS shelling before a room temperature cation exchange reaction with tin(IV). By containing defects in the CdS shell rather than the fluorescent CdSe cores, fluorescence retention reached 99%, allowing for the addition of a broad spectrum of ferroelectric applications to the already ever-growing list of quantum dot applications.