{"id":29398,"date":"2011-07-21T17:42:08","date_gmt":"2011-07-21T10:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nano2.toolsmkt.com\/?p=2852"},"modified":"2011-07-21T17:42:08","modified_gmt":"2011-07-21T10:42:08","slug":"cadmium-selenide-quantum-dots-degrade-in-soil-releasing-their-toxic-guts-study-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nanotec.or.th\/en\/cadmium-selenide-quantum-dots-degrade-in-soil-releasing-their-toxic-guts-study-finds\/","title":{"rendered":"Cadmium Selenide Quantum Dots Degrade in Soil, Releasing Their Toxic Guts, Study Finds"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Researchers at the University of Buffalo, United States, have found that quantum dots \u2013 semiconductor nanocrystals \u2013 made of cadmium and selenium degrade in soil, releasing their toxic guts of cadmium and selenium ions. <!--more-->Although quantum dots are not yet widely used in consumer products, they have many potential applications, ranging from solar panels to biomedical imaging. Diana Aga, a chemistry professor who led the study, said, &#8220;Quantum dots are not yet used widely, but they have a lot of potential and we can anticipate that the use of this nanomaterial will increase. We can also anticipate that their occurrence in the environment will also increase, and we need to be proactive and learn more about whether these materials will be a problem when they enter the environment. We can conclude from our research that there is potential for some negative impacts, since the quantum dots biodegrade. But there is also a possibility to modify the chemistry, the surface of the nanomaterials, to prevent degradation in the future.&#8221; The team found that quantum dots resting in topsoil are unlikely to burrow their way down into underground water tables, under normal circumstances. If, however, a chelating agent, such as those often found in soaps or laundry detergents, is introduced, the quantum dots travel through the soil more quickly. Aga added that even if quantum dots remain in the topsoil, the particle\u2019s degradation still poses a risk to the environment.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.buffalo.edu\/news\/12731\">http:\/\/www.buffalo.edu\/news\/12731<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Researchers at the University of Buffalo, United States, have found that quantum dots \u2013 semiconductor nanocrystals \u2013 made of cadmium [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology-update"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Cadmium Selenide Quantum Dots Degrade in Soil, Releasing Their Toxic Guts, Study Finds - National Nanotechnology Center<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nanotec.or.th\/en\/cadmium-selenide-quantum-dots-degrade-in-soil-releasing-their-toxic-guts-study-finds\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cadmium Selenide Quantum Dots Degrade in Soil, Releasing Their Toxic Guts, Study Finds - National Nanotechnology Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Researchers at the University of Buffalo, United States, have found that quantum dots \u2013 semiconductor nanocrystals \u2013 made of cadmium [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.nanotec.or.th\/en\/cadmium-selenide-quantum-dots-degrade-in-soil-releasing-their-toxic-guts-study-finds\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"National Nanotechnology Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-07-21T10:42:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Author user\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Author user\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nanotec.or.th\\\/en\\\/cadmium-selenide-quantum-dots-degrade-in-soil-releasing-their-toxic-guts-study-finds\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nanotec.or.th\\\/en\\\/cadmium-selenide-quantum-dots-degrade-in-soil-releasing-their-toxic-guts-study-finds\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Author user\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nanotec.or.th\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/54985d672de7577f5123522535b02e1e\"},\"headline\":\"Cadmium Selenide Quantum Dots Degrade in Soil, Releasing Their Toxic Guts, Study Finds\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-07-21T10:42:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nanotec.or.th\\\/en\\\/cadmium-selenide-quantum-dots-degrade-in-soil-releasing-their-toxic-guts-study-finds\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":255,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nanotec.or.th\\\/en\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Technology Update\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nanotec.or.th\\\/en\\\/cadmium-selenide-quantum-dots-degrade-in-soil-releasing-their-toxic-guts-study-finds\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nanotec.or.th\\\/en\\\/cadmium-selenide-quantum-dots-degrade-in-soil-releasing-their-toxic-guts-study-finds\\\/\",\"name\":\"Cadmium Selenide Quantum Dots Degrade in Soil, Releasing Their Toxic Guts, Study Finds - National Nanotechnology Center\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nanotec.or.th\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-07-21T10:42:08+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nanotec.or.th\\\/en\\\/cadmium-selenide-quantum-dots-degrade-in-soil-releasing-their-toxic-guts-study-finds\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nanotec.or.th\\\/en\\\/cadmium-selenide-quantum-dots-degrade-in-soil-releasing-their-toxic-guts-study-finds\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nanotec.or.th\\\/en\\\/cadmium-selenide-quantum-dots-degrade-in-soil-releasing-their-toxic-guts-study-finds\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nanotec.or.th\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Cadmium Selenide Quantum Dots Degrade in Soil, Releasing Their Toxic Guts, Study Finds\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nanotec.or.th\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nanotec.or.th\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"National Nanotechnology Center\",\"description\":\"NANOTEC\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nanotec.or.th\\\/en\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nanotec.or.th\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nanotec.or.th\\\/en\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"National Nanotechnology Center\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nanotec.or.th\\\/en\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nanotec.or.th\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nanotec.or.th\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/Nanotec-2-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nanotec.or.th\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/Nanotec-2-logo.png\",\"width\":1332,\"height\":391,\"caption\":\"National Nanotechnology Center\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nanotec.or.th\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nanotec.or.th\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/54985d672de7577f5123522535b02e1e\",\"name\":\"Author user\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f49d9160cb81f15d70c8049f3079047f5480a64c3a547344af5b52101068fc3b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f49d9160cb81f15d70c8049f3079047f5480a64c3a547344af5b52101068fc3b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f49d9160cb81f15d70c8049f3079047f5480a64c3a547344af5b52101068fc3b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Author user\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nanotec.or.th\\\/en\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nanotec.or.th\\\/en\\\/author\\\/thaispo\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Cadmium Selenide Quantum Dots Degrade in Soil, Releasing Their Toxic Guts, Study Finds - National Nanotechnology Center","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.nanotec.or.th\/en\/cadmium-selenide-quantum-dots-degrade-in-soil-releasing-their-toxic-guts-study-finds\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Cadmium Selenide Quantum Dots Degrade in Soil, Releasing Their Toxic Guts, Study Finds - National Nanotechnology Center","og_description":"Researchers at the University of Buffalo, United States, have found that quantum dots \u2013 semiconductor nanocrystals \u2013 made of cadmium [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.nanotec.or.th\/en\/cadmium-selenide-quantum-dots-degrade-in-soil-releasing-their-toxic-guts-study-finds\/","og_site_name":"National Nanotechnology Center","article_published_time":"2011-07-21T10:42:08+00:00","author":"Author user","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Author user","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.nanotec.or.th\/en\/cadmium-selenide-quantum-dots-degrade-in-soil-releasing-their-toxic-guts-study-finds\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.nanotec.or.th\/en\/cadmium-selenide-quantum-dots-degrade-in-soil-releasing-their-toxic-guts-study-finds\/"},"author":{"name":"Author user","@id":"https:\/\/www.nanotec.or.th\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/54985d672de7577f5123522535b02e1e"},"headline":"Cadmium Selenide Quantum Dots Degrade in Soil, Releasing Their Toxic Guts, Study Finds","datePublished":"2011-07-21T10:42:08+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.nanotec.or.th\/en\/cadmium-selenide-quantum-dots-degrade-in-soil-releasing-their-toxic-guts-study-finds\/"},"wordCount":255,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.nanotec.or.th\/en\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Technology Update"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.nanotec.or.th\/en\/cadmium-selenide-quantum-dots-degrade-in-soil-releasing-their-toxic-guts-study-finds\/","url":"https:\/\/www.nanotec.or.th\/en\/cadmium-selenide-quantum-dots-degrade-in-soil-releasing-their-toxic-guts-study-finds\/","name":"Cadmium Selenide Quantum Dots Degrade in Soil, Releasing Their Toxic Guts, Study Finds - National Nanotechnology Center","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.nanotec.or.th\/en\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-07-21T10:42:08+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.nanotec.or.th\/en\/cadmium-selenide-quantum-dots-degrade-in-soil-releasing-their-toxic-guts-study-finds\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.nanotec.or.th\/en\/cadmium-selenide-quantum-dots-degrade-in-soil-releasing-their-toxic-guts-study-finds\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.nanotec.or.th\/en\/cadmium-selenide-quantum-dots-degrade-in-soil-releasing-their-toxic-guts-study-finds\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.nanotec.or.th\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Cadmium Selenide Quantum Dots Degrade in Soil, Releasing Their Toxic Guts, Study Finds"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.nanotec.or.th\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.nanotec.or.th\/en\/","name":"National Nanotechnology Center","description":"NANOTEC","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.nanotec.or.th\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.nanotec.or.th\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.nanotec.or.th\/en\/#organization","name":"National Nanotechnology Center","url":"https:\/\/www.nanotec.or.th\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.nanotec.or.th\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.nanotec.or.th\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Nanotec-2-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.nanotec.or.th\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Nanotec-2-logo.png","width":1332,"height":391,"caption":"National Nanotechnology Center"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.nanotec.or.th\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.nanotec.or.th\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/54985d672de7577f5123522535b02e1e","name":"Author user","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f49d9160cb81f15d70c8049f3079047f5480a64c3a547344af5b52101068fc3b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f49d9160cb81f15d70c8049f3079047f5480a64c3a547344af5b52101068fc3b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f49d9160cb81f15d70c8049f3079047f5480a64c3a547344af5b52101068fc3b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Author user"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.nanotec.or.th\/en"],"url":"https:\/\/www.nanotec.or.th\/en\/author\/thaispo\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nanotec.or.th\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nanotec.or.th\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nanotec.or.th\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nanotec.or.th\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nanotec.or.th\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nanotec.or.th\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29398\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nanotec.or.th\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nanotec.or.th\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nanotec.or.th\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}