The Nobel Prize in chemistry has been awarded to Moungi Bawendi, Louis Brus and Alexei Ekimov for their work on tiny quantum dots.

Hans Ellegren, the secretary-general of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, announced the award on Wednesday morning in Stockholm.

The Nobel Prizes carry a cash award of 11 million Swedish kronor (£821,000). The money comes from a bequest left by the prize’s creator, Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel, who died in 1896.