PFI-TT: Synthesis of low-cost and environmentally sustainable organic phosphors for light emitting diode lighting fixtures

这一创新-技术转化伙伴关系项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是消除发光二极管（LED）照明应用中使用的磷光体对稀土（RE E）的依赖，同时继续提高照明质量和效率。稀土元素是商业LED产品中使用的无机荧光粉必不可少的元素。尽管目前存在可再生能源，但它们在地理上的分布并不均匀，因此其可获得性容易受到各种因素的影响，如社会和政治限制、环境法规和经济因素，因此，其未来的可获得性存在高度的不确定性。因此，无机磷光体对LED照明的长期商业可行性和实用性存在固有风险。此外，存在改善现有无机磷光体的效率和光质量性能的机会。考虑到LED的广泛应用，改进可能会减少电力消耗，从而显着减少温室气体排放。除了直接影响视觉表现外，光质量还会影响人类的情绪和行为。改善的光质量可以提高精神状态，提高警觉性，并提高生产力。拟议项目开发了一种生态友好的方法，使用丰富的天然产品代替稀土元素合成有机磷光体，具有商业竞争力的成本。最终的产品是一种嵌入磷光体的片材，可以作为外壳集成到照明产品中，与稀土元素衍生的无机磷光体相比，可以实现更高的效率和颜色质量。该团队是第一个报道通过直接芳基化从可可豆中提取的可可碱分子合成高荧光有机磷光体的团队。使用丰富的无毒天然产物和先进的绿色化学，使研究小组能够以降低的成本和环境影响生产所需的有机磷光体。此外，将可可碱引入有机磷光体增强了它们的环境稳定性，这对于具有长寿命的LED是必不可少的。合成和分子设计挑战了有机荧光粉昂贵且不稳定的常见概念。Luscombe博士和她的学生最近开发了可可碱衍生的磷光体，其效率和光质量性能超过了大多数商业产品。他们的下一步将集中在通过分子优化和封装设计进一步提高可可碱衍生荧光粉的稳定性，旨在缩小或消除实验室研究与商业产品之间的差距。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation - Technology Translation (PFI-TT) project is to eliminate dependence on rare-earth (REEs) in phosphors used in light emitting diode (LED) lighting applications while continuing to improve lighting quality and efficiency. Rare earth elements are essential for inorganic phosphors used in commercial LED products. Even though the REEs are currently available; They are geographically unevenly distributed, so their availability is susceptible to various factors, such as social and political constraints, environmental regulations and economics, and thus, a high degree of uncertainty exists in their future availability. As a result, inorganic phosphors present an inherent risk to the long-term commercial viability and utility of LED lighting. Moreover, there exists an opportunity to improve the efficiency and light quality performance of existing inorganic phosphors. Improvements could result in reduced electricity consumption, which could lead to significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions considering the wide application of LEDs. In addition to direct impacts on visual performance, light quality affects human mood and behavior. Improved light quality may lead to elevated mental states, sharpened alertness, and boosted productivity. The proposed project develops an eco-friendly method to synthesize organic phosphors using an abundant natural product in place of rare earth elements, at a commercially competitive cost. The final product, a phosphor-imbed sheet, can be integrated into lighting products as the outer cover and achieve enhanced efficiency and color quality compared to rare earth element-derived inorganic phosphors. The team is the first to report the syntheses of highly fluorescent organic phosphors from theobromine, a molecule derived from cacao beans, through direct arylation. Using an abundant, non-toxic natural product and advanced green chemistry allows the research group to produce the desired organic phosphors at both reduced cost and environmental impacts. Moreover, introducing theobromine to organic phosphors enhances their ambient stability, which is essential for LEDs given their long lifetime. The synthetic and molecular design challenges the common conception that organic phosphors are expensive and unstable. Dr. Luscombe and her students recently developed theobromine-derived phosphors offering efficiency and light quality performance that exceeds most commercial products. Their next steps will focus on further enhancing the stability of the theobromine-derived phosphors through molecular optimization and encapsulation designs, aiming to narrow or eliminate the gap between lab research and a commercial product.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.