"Black technology" new light emitting diodes that can both light and absorb external light sources

People can use hand gestures to operate the mobile phone without touching the screen. Can we also use the ambient light to automatically charge it? These "black technology" may be achieved in the near future, and the key benefits from a new type of LED array, which can both light and absorb external light sources.

Researchers from the University of Illinois, Bana - Penn and Dow electronics, in Marlborough, Massachusetts, have published recent advances in the journal Science in the United States. They show a new type of colloidal semiconductor nanorod that allows a single device to generate electroluminescence at the same time that the electric current is generated by the photoelectric effect, and the energy is converted to light energy.

These nanorods, which are less than 5 nanometers in diameter, consist of three semiconductor materials, one of which can emit and absorb visible light, and the other two to control the flow of charge in the first material. The synergistic work of the three materials enables the LED panel to induce the external light and adjust the brightness at the same time.

Because the LED switches between the two functions of light and light, the naked eye can't identify the switch, so the display panel looks bright. At the same time, different from the current light sensor on the mobile phone, the light and light of the LED panel are all in the pixel level, so it can not only adjust the brightness of the panel according to the external environment light source, but also induce the difference of the fine light line from the finger on the top of the screen, so that the gesture operation of the non touch screen is allowed.

The researchers also found that the LED, while emitting light, can also absorb external light sources and convert them into current, similar to the function of solar panels, so the future use of such a LED screen can be recharged through light and become a "self powered" cell phone.

In addition, the new LED display can also be used as a large parallel communication array to achieve large data exchange between each other.

At present, researchers have successfully demonstrated the related functions with a new red LED array, trying to combine red, blue and green LED to realize color array display, and improve the absorbability of LED by adjusting the composition of the nanorods.

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