Using technology designed in the labs and research conducted by Professor Paul O’Brien at Imperial College London and the University of Manchester, Nanoco Ltd is one of just three companies in the world able to produce quantum dots – an extremely rare material that sells for $2m per kilogramme. Quantum dots have applications in backlighting for electronic displays (such as TVs, computer screens, tablets and smartphones), LED general lighting and thin film solar cells. 

Company highlights

Nanoco won the UK Trade & Industry Business Innovation Award in the category of Clean Technologies in 2008, and was listed on AIM on the London Stock Exchange in 2009. By 2013 Nanoco employed 78 people, had annual revenue of £3 million, and had signed agreements with several major companies in the US and Japan including Dow Chemical, Osram and Tokyo Electron. In November 2013 the market capitalization of Nanoco was approximately £340 million.

In the news

• Nanoco strives to join up the ‘quantum dots’
• Nanoco rockets after Dow deal