Think about sneakers that begin glowing with intense gentle underneath black gentle. Or a theatrical costume that comes alive on stage in hypnotic colours.
Protopasta, an American filament producer, offered a model new sort of fabric at CES 2026: a filament with quantum dots. It was developed in collaboration with Quantum Mild – an organization specializing in quantum know-how.
To know what that is truly about, one should first clarify what these dots are. Quantum dots are tiny semiconductor crystals so small that their diameter is just a few nanometers. For comparability, a human hair is about 80,000 nanometers thick. They’re so minuscule that they’re ruled by the legal guidelines of quantum mechanics reasonably than classical physics.
In apply, which means electrons confined in such a small house behave equally to electrons in remoted atoms, therefore the title “synthetic atoms”. The important thing property is that the dimensions of a quantum dot immediately determines the colour of sunshine it emits. Smaller dots glow blue, whereas bigger ones glow pink. By altering the dimensions, one can subsequently exactly “program” the colour.
Quantum dots usually are not, nonetheless, a completely new know-how. They’re already extensively utilized in QLED televisions (the place they supply exceptionally vivid and pure colours), in medical imaging, and in trendy photo voltaic cells. What Protopasta did was carry this superior know-how to the world of 3D printing at an accessible value.
The best attraction of the quantum dot filament is its response to black UV gentle, particularly at a wavelength of 365 nm. Beneath ultraviolet radiation, the fabric produces a phenomenon referred to as hyperfluorescence. That is an awfully intense, vivid glow that makes a shocking visible impression.
In regular gentle, a printed object appears to be like like an extraordinary merchandise. However change on a UV lamp, and it instantly comes alive in spectacular colours. This can be a property that opens up monumental prospects – from artwork and style, by leisure, to industrial functions.
What are you able to do with it? That is the place probably the most attention-grabbing half begins. Protopasta intentionally doesn’t impose a single reply to this query. Quantum dots can actually be utilized within the style trade – designer Daniel Bettencourt (generally known as Kaizen3D) is already experimenting with 3D printing in style. Quantum dot filament permits for the creation of clothes parts or jewellery that visually rework into one thing utterly completely different underneath UV.
One other glorious software is theater – stage costumes, props, or decorations that tackle a completely new dimension underneath black gentle. The leisure trade additionally permits to be used of the know-how; think about glow-in-the-dark golf, or escape rooms with atmospheric accents glowing in vivid colours. The filament may also discover use in trade, the place the fabric can be utilized as an indicator or marker in manufacturing processes the place UV visibility has sensible significance.
Behind the undertaking is Olga Alexapoulou from Quantum Mild, a scientist and artist who developed a technique for getting ready quantum dots in pigment kind. This made it potential to actually “combine” them into 3D printing filament.
Protopasta, a Washington-based firm working since 2013, focuses on creating distinctive filaments – together with metallic, multicolored, and people with varied materials components. The quantum dot filament is the following step on this path, and this time it represents the primary such superior nanotechnology materials.
Some of the vital features of this launch was creating a cloth that surprises visually whereas additionally being inexpensive. Protopasta makes the filament accessible by the Countless Exploration subscription – a plan by which subscribers obtain new, distinctive supplies each month. The subscription prices $24.99 for a 1.75 mm spool bundle, and $89.99 for a 1.75 mm / spool bundle. The March cargo consists of three colours of quantum dot filament.
The story of the quantum dot filament reveals that superior know-how is not reserved completely for scientists, the electronics trade, and medication. It might probably now attain the palms of artists, hobbyists, and innovators world wide. The way in which it’s used is solely open-ended, which suggests the boundary between science and artwork is starting to blur, and superior supplies have gotten a instrument for inventive expression.