Researchers at the University of Toronto in Canada and ShangaiTech University in China have succeeded in using colloidal quantum dots in a high-mobility perovskite matrix to make a near-infrared (NIR) light-emitting diode (LED) with a record electroluminescence power conversion efficiency of nearly 5% for this type of device. The NIR LED could find use in applications such as night vision devices, biomedical imaging, optical communications and computing.
The researchers say that they may have found a way to overcome the known problem of low power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of CQD-based LEDs, by embedding CQDs in a high-mobility mixed-halide perovskite matrix. The new composite allows for radiative recombination in the quantum dots by preventing charge carriers from becoming trapped in defects as they travel through the material, and this without increasing the turn-on voltage in a device. By carefully engineering the composition of the mixed halide matrix, the researchers made bright NIR CQD LEDs with electroluminescence PCEs of 4.9%. This value is said to be more than twice that of previously reported values for devices made from these materials, which means that with same amount of electricity it is possible to get twice as much NIR light power out.
