New quantum dot manufacturing technology leads a new era of LED lighting

Quantum dots have had a broad commercial impact on LED technology. It is now the focus of research that improve their manufacturing steps and increase profits. Researchers at Oregon State University have recently demonstrated a new quantum dot manufacturing technology that will not only ensure that the size and shape of the quantum dots are consistent and can be done, but accurate color control, which may mean a new era of LED lighting coming, reported by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' Spectroscopy magazine.

In a study published in the Journal of Nanoparticles Research, the team used a chemical reactor called "continuous flow". Chemical substances are continuously put into the reactor and produce continuous LED lighting. This continuous flow device makes the process of making LED lighting cheaper, faster, and highly ductile. At the same time, they use microwave to heat the reagent, which solves the problem that how to precise control the temperature during chemical reaction. This microwave device has almost the same principle of operating as the microwave device at home.

Researchers believe that this approach will bring great changes in the field of LED lighting. Because this method can produce quantum dots of constant size and shape, and its flexibility ensures that the manufacturer can produce quantum dots with multiple uses. Smaller quantum dots can release green light, and larger quantum dots can release orange to red light.

"We may eventually make low-cost, energy-efficient LED lighting, and can achieve the desired effect of white light," said the University of Chemical Engineering Associate Professor Greg Helman. The research team believes that their precision manufacturing methods can lead to better color control than other quantum dot manufacturing techniques.

"At the same time, this technology uses non-toxic materials and greatly reduces the waste of materials, which reduces production costs and protects the environment." Herman explains that compared to the commonly used cadmium in LED lighting systems, Copper indium selenium compounds are more environmentally friendly.

The researchers said that the quantum dots made by this method can provide another "cheap" option for a wide range of fields such as optics, electronics and biomedicine.