For quantum confinement, size matters, but so does shape
Courtesy photoWashington University chemists have shown that the shape of nanowires such as this one can affect its electronic and optical properties.Size matters, but so does shape, at least in the world of semiconducting nanocrystals, report chemists at Washington University in St. Louis. Their findings, published in the August 2003 issue of Nature Materials, demonstrate experimentally that the shape of a semiconductor nanocrystal can affect its electronic and optical properties.