Bright colourful future for LEDs

Technical Insights Frost & Sullivan has discovered two developments in the light-emitting diode (LED) arena. A single LED, with the facility to switch its emission spectrum and a hybrid device based on an inorganic quantum dot/organic LED combination capable of enhanced luminescence.

Scientists have engineered a simple, electroluminescent LED device that can produce either red or green light, depending on the voltage applied to it. The device is based on the synthesis of organic semiconductor materials and an inorganic phosphorescent complex of ruthenium.

This development offers the prospect of having only one pixel capable of emitting in multiple colours within a display device, instead of the three individually coloured LEDs currently required for full colour displays.

A conjunction of two technologies - the inorganic quantum-dot and organic light-emitting diode - has resulted in a hybrid device capable of high levels of efficiency in luminescence. This device merges the narrow-band, effective luminescence of colloidal quantum dots with organic materials ability to be effortlessly processed. It contains a single monolayer of CdSE quantum dots inserted between thin films of organic materials used in OLED applications. Indications are that it is 25 times more efficient in luminescence than former quantum dot/LED combinations.