LED new technology to reduce cost and prolong life

According to 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 expensive, is the 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 lamps, halogen lamps and other lighting materials, white LED has the advantages of long life, high energy efficiency, environmental protection and easy maintenance, but the disadvantage is the high price, which is mainly due to its 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 these two techniques, and researchers at the University of Nuremberg, Erlangen, are working on this idea. Costa, a professor at the Department of advanced materials engineering at the University and a professor of synthetic biology, Professor Thorne Wald, has developed a simple and inexpensive process. They coated the fluorescent protein on a rubber material and embedded it in LED. Costa said, fluorescent protein is environmentally friendly and cheap, but also easy to color, color or white can be controlled. The only defect is that the fluorescent protein is only stable in buffer solution, so it can not be used in the conventional coating process. In addition, the researchers must also address the stability of fluorescent protein in high temperature, humidity and other environmental conditions.

To this end, the researchers 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 convert the gel into a rubber material by vacuum drying, and then apply it to a multilayer coating of white LED. Costa said they used this method successfully made a long life, energy efficient, environmentally friendly and cheap white LED. He said that this production process is expected to be applied to the next generation of LED industrial production.

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