Germany develops new technologies for cost reduction and life extension of LED

According to the science and Technology Daily reported that the use of LED more and more widely, but the current production of white LED two methods is not too high cost, that is, product life is short, limiting the development of the industry. Recently, researchers at the University of Erlangen in Germany Nuremberg -- using fluorescent protein materials, developed a new production technology, the white LED production becomes simple and cheap, safety and environmental protection, but also prolongs the service life of the products increased significantly.

Compared with incandescent lamp and halogen lamp, white LED has the advantages of long service life, high energy efficiency, environmental protection and easy maintenance. But the disadvantage is that the price is on the high side. This is mainly due to the relatively complex production process. White LED production usually has two methods: one is on the surface of the blue LED is coated with a phosphorus or rare earth inorganic materials, the production of white LED, long service life, good brightness, but the process is more complex, and the cost is high; the other is the use of organic LED, between the two electrodes embedded in the shape like a sandwich a plurality of organic semiconductor layer, this process is relatively simple, but the product brightness and service life to the poor.

An ideal approach is to combine the two processes, and researchers at the University of Nuremberg, Erlangen, are based on this idea. Dr Costa, of the University's advanced materials engineering department, and Professor Thorne Wald, a professor of synthetic biology, invented a simple and inexpensive process. They spread fluorescent proteins onto a rubber material and then embed it in LED. Costa said, fluorescent protein is environmentally friendly and cheap, but also easy to palette, color or white can be controlled. The only defect is that the fluorescent proteins are stable only in buffered aqueous solutions, so they are not available in conventional coating processes. In addition, researchers must also address the stability of fluorescent proteins in different environments such as high temperature and humidity.

To this end, researchers have developed a new coating technology. They will be on a fluorescent protein gel material, the gel made from a blend of protein solution and a polymer composition, polymer is the role of the protein solution is connected to the network gel, and maintain the necessary humidity. They converted the gel into a rubber material by vacuum drying and then used it for white LED multilayer coatings. Costa said they succeeded in using this method to produce a long, energy-efficient, environmentally friendly and cheap white LED. He said that this process is expected to be applied to the next generation of LED industrial production.

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