Nanotechnology Meets LED light Technology in ORNL Research
Oak Ridge National Laboratory has announced that they are exploring the potential for using nanotechnology in the next generation of LED lights.
Researchers at ORNL’s Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences and the University of Tennessee are working to develop technology that will improve a new generation of LED devices composed of thin films of polymers or organic molecules.
The new LEDs will be designed to be formed into thin, flexible sheets that hold promise for a new generation of lighting fixtures and flexible electronics displays. This means that where LED’s now are primarily used for small screen devices like your cell phone, flashlights, and other small outdoor equipment pieces in the future using this new technology, large displays and lighting fixtures can be produced just as efficiently and effectively.
Nanotechnology, as defined in wikipedia, is a field of applied science and technology that studies the control of matter on a scale smaller than 1 micrometer, normally between 1-100 nanometers, as well as the fabrication of devices on this same length scale.
ORNL researchers are developing electrodes composed of carbon nanotubes and magnetic nanowires to enhance the light emission from polymer-based OLEDs. In early tests, ORNL says that carbon nanotubes improved the electroluminescence efficiency of polymer OLEDs by a factor of four and reduced the energy required to operate them. Magnetic nanowires and dots have been shown to improve the efficiency and reliability of LED devices.
ORNL and the University of Tennessee team hope to merge the science and new materials research into a new technology for practical organic LED devices that consumes less than half the power of today’s technology and opens the door for their practical use in household lighting, which as this writer has said, is the next wave of LED evolution.
I found this hypothesis pretty amazing from David Geohegan, an ORNL researcher:
“The real, long-term solution to making a more efficient device may be found in nanoscience. Over the next year we hope to learn why nanomaterials enhance these devices. I think someday we will see OLEDs everywhere, from more durable touch-screen displays to electronic newspapers that we can roll up and carry easily to even larger wall displays for home entertainment or lighting.”
Wow – I can’t wait to see where this may lead.
