SBIR Phase I: Cadmium-free nanocrystals based light emitting diodes for full color flat panel displays

这一小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目将开发无镉（Cd）半导体纳米复合物（量子点）-聚合物纳米复合发光二极管（LED），这种发光二极管结构紧凑，重量轻，具有上级成像性能和长寿命。 聚合物LED（PLED）提供了这些优点，并且还具有成本有效的溶液可加工性的优点;因此，PLED有望在许多现有应用中取代液晶显示器（LCD）和阴极射线管（CRT）。 此外，这些设备有潜力实现新的产品形式和应用。 然而，目前的PLED技术具有一些缺点，包括有限的发射颜色、宽的和红尾的发射峰、低效率和短寿命。 所提出的基于无Cd QD的PLED承诺增加颜色的数量（在RGB标准色域上增加54%），从而为观看者提供高颜色多样性和准确性。 第一阶段的工作将集中在紫外/蓝光发射PLED的发展。 后续的第二阶段项目将专注于开发性能符合商用显示设备和照明产品所需标准的全色设备。该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力将使PLED在各种电子设备中得到更广泛的使用，并取代效率较低的LCD，后者仅将10%的输入能量转化为光。 LCD显示器的制造也是高成本和耗能的过程。 用低成本生产的PLED取代LCD将减少能源消耗和温室气体排放。 由于其上级特性，基于Cd的量子点（QD）被广泛地用于下一代LED应用。然而，镉是非常有毒的，并已与一些人类健康问题。 同时，镉材料的生产、操作和废物处理是昂贵的，并且由于含镉材料的毒性而可能对环境有害。 该项目的成功将通过消除LED应用中基于Cd的QD的使用而造福社会，从而改善人类健康并减少环境污染。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will develop cadmium (Cd)-free semiconductor nanocrystal (quantum dot)-polymer nanocomposite light emitting diodes (LEDs) that are compact and lightweight and have superior imaging performance and long lifetimes. Polymeric LEDs (PLEDs) provide these advantages, and also feature the advantage of cost-effective solution processability; as a result, PLEDs are expected to replace liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and cathode ray tubes (CRTs) in many existing applications. In addition, these devices have the potential to enable new product forms and applications. However, current PLED technology has some disadvantages, including limited emitting colors, broad and red-tailed emission peaks, low efficiency, and short lifetimes. The proposed Cd-free QD based PLEDs promise to increase the number of colors (by 54% over the NTSC standard color gamut), allowing high color diversity and accuracy for the viewer. This Phase I effort will focus on the development of ultraviolet/blue emitting PLEDs. The follow-on Phase II project will focus on developing full-color devices with the performance to meet the standards necessary for commercial display devices and lighting products. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will be to enable more extensive use of PLEDs in various electronic devices and replace less-efficient LCDs, which convert only 10% of the input energy into light. The fabrication of LCD displays is also a high-cost and energy consuming process. Replacing LCDs with PLEDs produced at a lower cost will reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Due to their superior features, Cd-based quantum dots (QDs) are being extensively pursued for next-generation LED applications. However, Cd is very toxic and has been linked to a number of human health problems. Meanwhile, production, manipulation, and waste treatment of Cd materials is expensive and can be deleterious to the environment due to the toxicity of Cd-containing materials. The success of this project will benefit society by eliminating the use of Cd-based QDs in LED applications, leading to improved human health and reducing environmental pollution.