Unmet Need
The use of light emitting diode (LED) arrays have several applications ranging from security to our phones to even medical therapy. However, these applications are limited by a few factors. Conventional LEDs are made from materials that absorb strongly in the visible wavelength range, which makes transparency impossible to achieve. In addition, current LEDs are not flexible. LED technology is developing rapidly, as the market for LEDs has had CAGR’s of up to 22% depending on the segment analyzed. However, there is a need for a different material in LEDs that would allow it to be transparent, lightweight, and have improved effectiveness over conventional LEDs.
Technology Overview
The inventors have proposed a methodology that uses colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) as the active layer in the construction of a multi-layer structured, thin-film, flexible, and transparent membrane of LED arrays. This is done in tandem with other solution-processed materials, allowing for a flexible and transparent membrane-based light-emitting diode (LED) array. This invention takes advantage of the fact that the band gap energy of CQDs can be tuned easily during the material synthesis based on the size of the nanocrystals created. In addition, the inventors are able to fabricate CQD LEDs on flexible substrates or curved glass surfaces, describing their starting materials as paints as opposed to brittle crystals. These would be suited for building a flexible and transparent membrane-based LED array due to the following properties. The proposed CQD LEDs would have emission wavelength tunability between 800-2000 nm, flexibility with a thickness of under 1 micrometer allowing them to be ultra-lightweight, and transparency that is impossible to achieve with conventional LEDs as stated above. There are a large number of applications this can be applied to.
Stage of Development
The inventors have developed a flexible transparent membrane light emitting diode array.
