Researchers at the Imperial College London have developed a method to improve LED designs by adding a layer of nanoparticles to produce more light from an energy source, increasing the lifetime cycle of LED’s.
A team, comprised of researchers from the Imperial College London and the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati reported the development in the journal Light: Science & Applications, with the potential make LEDs brighter, more energy-efficient and durable.
The researchers modelled the impact of a two-dimensional (single layer) of nanoparticles between an LED chip and the chip’s transparent casing. The casing can cause reflections of the light emitted from the chip, meaning some light is retained unnecessarily.
Adding the layer of nanoparticles could reduce reflections and allow up to 20% more light to be emitted by the LED.
Dr Debabrata Sikdar, co-author of the paper, IIT Guwahati, explained: “While improvements to the casing have been suggested previously, most make the LED bulkier or more difficult to manufacture, diminishing the economic effect of the improvement.
"We think that our innovation, based on fundamental theory and the detailed, balanced optimisation analysis we performed, could be introduced into existing manufacturing processes with little disruption or added bulk. We think that our innovation would make LEDs brighter, more energy-efficient, and durable."