PFI-TT: Pushing the limits of color quality and efficiency in solid state lighting with colloidal quantum dots.

Columbia University, New York NY

Investigators

Abstract

The broader impact/commercial potential of this proposal rests in improved luminescent materials that can increase the efficiency and the color quality of light emitting diodes (LEDs) and luminescent displays. The conversion of electricity to warm natural light in a lighting application depends heavily on the performance of red emitting materials, while the performance of cutting edge luminescent displays, including microdisplays and televisions, can be improved by narrow band red and green emitters. So called "quantum dots" can be optimized to produce a desired luminescence wavelength and the stable, bright luminescence required by these applications. If quantum dots can be manufactured in a cost effective manner and withstand the harsh conditions found on LED chips, they would simultaneously improve the color, efficiency, and cost of lighting and displays. This would lead to more rapid penetration of these technologies and save up to 1% of global energy or more. The successful implementation of quantum dots in lighting and emissive displays will therefore increase the economic competitiveness of the United States, while enhancing the health and welfare of the American public. The proposed project uses novel and highly tunable synthesis reagents to optimize high performance quantum dot architectures. The method utilizes a patented "one pot" synthetic strategy and patented synthesis reagents that are inexpensive, air stable, and nontoxic and have tunable conversion kinetics. The approach controls quantum dot structure with levels of precision not possible previously, an important advance from traditional quantum dot synthesis; a notoriously Edissonian process of trial and error. The novel reagents and the "one pot" synthesis produce quantitative reaction yields, facilitating a highly scalable method that reduces the challenge of quantum dot manufacturing on scales required for broad adoption in solid state lighting and emissive display markets. These quantum dots will be encapsulated and tested on LED chips to determine their long term stability. Outer layers of the quantum dots will be optimized to improve this long term stability and to enhance their performance on LED chips used in display and down lighting applications. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.