Using nanoimprint lithography to improve the light extraction efficiency and color rendering of dichromatic white light-emitting diodes

Blue-Emitting Ligand-Mediated Assembly of Rare-Earth MOFs toward White-Light Emission, Sensing, Magnetic, and Catalytic Studies

New lanthanide carboxylate compounds with two- (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) structures have been prepared by employing 2,5-bis(prop-2-yn-1-yloxy)terephthalic acid (2,5-BPTA) as an organic linker. The compounds, [Ln(C₁₄H₈O₆)(C₇O₃H₄)·2H₂O]·4(H₂O), Ln = Y, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy and [Ln(C₇O₃H₄)₃·(C₃H₇ON)·(H₂O)]·2(H₂O)(C₃H₇NO), Ln = La, Ce, Pr, have two- and three-dimensional structures, respectively. In all compounds, lanthanide ions are connected together, forming a dimer, which is connected by the 2,5-BPTA ligand. In the two-dimensional structure, there are two 2,5-BPTA moieties present, and in the three-dimensional structure, there are three 2,5-BPTA moieties present. The lanthanide centers are nine-coordinated, the 2D structure has a tricapped trigonal prismatic arrangement, and the 3D structure has a monocapped distorted square antiprismatic arrangement. The Pr compound forms in both 2D and 3D structures, whose formation depends on the time of the reaction (2 days─2D and 5-6 days─3D). The ligand emits in the blue region, and using the characteristic emission of Eu³⁺ (red) and Tb³⁺ (green) ions, we achieve white light emission in the (Y_0.96Tb_0.02Eu_0.02) compound. The overall quantum yield for the white light emission is 28%. The strong green luminescence of the Tb³⁺-containing compound was employed to selectively sense the Cr³⁺ and Fe³⁺ ions in aqueous solution with limits of detection (LODs) at 0.41 and 8.6 ppm, respectively. The Tb compound was found to be a good heterogeneous catalyst for the Ullman-type O-arylation reaction between phenol and bromoarene with yields of 95%. Magnetic studies on the Gd-, Tb-, and Dy-containing compounds showed weak exchange interactions within the dimeric Ln₂ units. The present work demonstrates the many utilities of the rare-earth-containing MOFs, especially toward white-light emission, metal-ion sensing, and heterogeneous catalysis.

Hydrophobic Poly(tert-butyl acrylate) Photonic Crystals towards Robust Energy-Saving Performance

Photonic crystals (PCs) have been widely applied in optical, energy, and biological fields owing to their periodic crystal structure. However, the major challenges are easy cracking and poor structural color, seriously hindering their practical applications. Now, hydrophobic poly(tert-butyl acrylate) (P(t-BA)) PCs have been developed with relatively lower glass transition temperature (T_g ), large crack-free area, excellent hydrophobic properties, and brilliant structure color. This method based on hydrophobic groups (tertiary butyl groups) provides a reference for designing new kinds of PCs via the monomers with relatively lower T_g . Moreover, the P(t-BA) PCs film were applied as the photoluminescence (PL) enhanced film to enhance the PL intensity of CdSe@ZnS QDs by 10-fold in a liquid-crystal display (LCD) device. The new-type hydrophobic force assembled PCs may open an innovative avenue toward new-generation energy-saving devices.

Micro-scale roughening of glass substrates using carbon nanotube-driven templates for enhancements in white luminescence characteristics

A novel way of roughening the surface of a glass substrate using a carbon nanotube-driven template is introduced to enhance the white luminescence characteristics of a printed (Ba,Sr,Ca)₂SiO₄:Eu²⁺ yellow silicate phosphor layer. The distribution of closed pores in the template layer induces selective etching and micro-scale roughening. As a result, a substantial improvement of ∼22.5% in the luminous efficacy was achieved when both sides of the substrate were roughened. This is attributed to the reductions of both the total internal reflection of rays at the glass-air interface and the specular reflection at the phosphor-glass interface.

Effect of ZnO nanostructures on the optical properties of white light-emitting diodes

White light produced by blue LEDs with yellow phosphor is the most widely used methods, but it results in poor quality in angular CCT uniformity. In this work, a novel technique was introduced to solve this problem by integrating different ZnO nanostructures into white light-emitting diodes. The experiment of ZnO doped films and the simulation of Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) were carried out. The result indicated scattering effect of ZnO nanoparticles could improve uniformity of scattering energy effectively. Moreover, the effect of ZnO nanostructures on white light-emitting diodes (wLEDs) devices was also investigated. The CCT deviation of wLEDs devices would decrease from 3455.49 K to 96.30 K, 40.03 K and 60.09 K when the node-like (N-ZnO), sheet-like (S-ZnO) and rod-like ZnO (R-ZnO) respectively applied. The higher CCT uniformity and little luminous flux dropping were achieved when the optimal concentrations of N-ZnO, S-ZnO, and R-ZnO nanostructures were 0.25%, 0.75%, and 0.25%. This low-cost and green manufacturing method has a great impact on development of white light-emitting diodes.

High-Efficiency Robust Free-Standing Composited Phosphor Films with 2D and 3D Nanostructures for High-Power Remote White LEDs

This study demonstrated that combined free-standing quasi-amorphous/micropattern (QA/MP) composited resin film-assisted phosphor films enhanced the mechanical robustness, luminous efficacy, color rendering index (CRI), and special R9 of high-power remote warm white light-emitting diodes (WLEDs). Introducing QA/MP nanostructures into phosphor film resulted in high efficiency of remote warm WLEDs with low phosphor thickness (approximately 25 μm) and reduced the correlated color temperature (CCT) from cold white light (approximately 5565 K) to warm white light (approximately 3178 K). The QA/MP composited phosphor films (CPFs) used for high-power remote WLEDs enhanced the CRI and special R9 and reduced the CCT. These results were attributed to that QA resin film reflected the blue light and re-emitted the added red emission. CIR (84), a natural warm white CCT (3178 K), and an acceptable luminous efficacy (102.5 lm/W) were achieved from the QA/MP CPFs of high-power remote WLEDs during operation at an input power of 10 W (current of 700 mA). The bending strength of QA/MP CPFs at approximately 112 N was significantly enhanced by 40% compared with that of flat CPFs. The QA/MP CPFs applied to high-power remote WLEDs exhibited good thermal and optical stability. QA/MP CPFs were also conducted to a reliability analysis (RA), in which temperature of 85 °C and relative humidity of 85% were applied for 3288 h. Lumen maintenance was degraded by 8% during RA test because the transmittance of trimethylolopropane ethoxylate triacrylate resins was degraded under high temperature. Overall, we implemented a reliable and inexpensive technology that can potentially reduce phosphor thickness, address the out-bin problems of defective WLEDs, and fabricate flat-panel lighting source with good lighting quality.

The polarization modulation and fabrication method of two dimensional silica photonic crystals based on UV nanoimprint lithography and hot imprint

Based on a silica sol-gel technique, highly-structurally ordered silica photonic structures were fabricated by UV lithography and hot manual nanoimprint efforts, which makes large-scale fabrication of silica photonic crystals easy and results in low-cost. These photonic structures show perfect periodicity, smooth and flat surfaces and consistent aspect ratios, which are checked by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). In addition, glass substrates with imprinted photonic nanostructures show good diffraction performance in both transmission and reflection mode. Furthermore, the reflection efficiency can be enhanced by 5 nm Au nanoparticle coating, which does not affect the original imprint structure. Also the refractive index and dielectric constant of the imprinted silica is close to that of the dielectric layer in nanodevices. In addition, the polarization characteristics of the reflected light can be modulated by stripe nanostructures through changing the incident light angle. The experimental findings match with theoretical results, making silica photonic nanostructures functional integration layers in many optical or optoelectronic devices, such as LED and microlasers to enhance the optical performance and modulate polarization properties in an economical and large-scale way.