Two decades after the development of the blue light-emitting diode (LED), LEDs have quickly established themselves as the lighting technology of the future. The high efficiency, spectral tunability, lack of toxic compounds and a small footprint makes them far more attractive than other lighting technologies. The high efficiency, now well exceeding 100 lum/W in commercial products, has still the margin to double, promising a strong reduction in electricity consumption.
White LEDs are commonly based on a blue LED, combined with luminescent materials, or phosphors, which convert part of the blue light to longer wavelengths, the mixture providing white light. Besides the workhorse Y3Al5O12:Ce (YAG:Ce, yielding yellow emission), europium doped phosphors are used to provide e.g. the red emission required for warm-white LEDs.
Six main requirements for LED phosphors are discussed and used to explain the discrepancy between the high number of compositions described in literature and the handful of actually used compounds, being almost uniquely based on rare earth ions as luminescent center [1]. Alternative materials avoiding the use of rare earth ions are discussed, including Mn4+ doped fluorides phosphors (e.g. K2SiF6:Mn4+ [2]) and quantum dots. Finally, the impact of phosphor geometries on phosphor use, including remote phosphor applications, are discussed.
[1] Smet PF and Joos JJ, Nat. Mater. 16 (2017) 500.
[2] Sijbom H et al, Opt. Mater. Exp. 7 (2017) 3332.
1. Are alternatives needed for the workhorses
Eu2+ and Ce3+ in phosphor converted LEDs?
June 18 2018
http://LumiLab.UGent.be
Philippe Smet
philippe.smet@ugent.be
@pfsmet
EMRS Spring meeting – Strasbourg – 18 to 22 June 2018
@UGentLumiLab
Presentation can be downloaded at http://www.slideshare.net/pfsmet
2.
3. Lighting accounts for an estimated 18% of the world’s
electricity consumption.
Fluorescent and LED lighting use rare earth elements.
The RE elements regularly make headlines.
Do we really need RE for lighting?
15. °1907 – SiC – yellow emission
1940s: theoretical framework (cfr. transistor, p-n junction)
1955: EL in III-V compounds
1962: IR emission in GaAs (+ laser)
1960s: green and red LEDs based on GaP
Blue: predicted in GaN-based LEDs in 1950s!
LEDs – direcht conversion of electricity into light
16. Nobel prize physics 2014
Isamu Akasaki Hiroshi Amano Shuji Nakamura
"for the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs)
which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources"
17. Light emitting diodes (LEDs)
Nobel prize communication
p
n
Direct bandgap needed!
Nearly monochromatic light.
18. RGB LEDs – the green gap.
Source: OSRAM
(In,Ga)N
(Al,Ga,In)P
Green gap
23. Tunability of Eu2+ based phosphors
Phosphors for LEDs
Journal of Luminescence (2003) 104, p. 239@pfsmet
24. Phosphors for LEDs
Thousands of different phosphors can be made...
... but only a handful are actually used.
• garnets (YAG:Ce, LuAG:Ce,...)
• silicates ((Ca,Sr,Ba)2SiO4:Eu,...)
• oxynitrides (SrSi2O2N2:Eu, SiAlONs,...)
• nitrides ((Ba,Sr)2Si5N8:Eu, CaAlSiN3:Eu...)
25. 6 (scientific) requirements for LED phosphors
• Suitable emission spectrum (peak, width)
• High (quantum) efficiency (QY, QE)
• Strong absorption at +/- 460nm (EQE)
• Chemically stable
• Short luminescence lifetime
• Thermal stability
Phosphors for LEDs
+ cost, embedding,…
ECS Journal of the Electrochemical Society (2011) 158, p. R37@pfsmet
26. ECS Journal of the Electrochemical Society (2011) 158, p. R37
Only handful of phosphors are
suitable for high brightness LEDs.
Two dopants: Ce3+ and Eu2+
6 (scientific) requirements for LED phosphors
• Suitable emission spectrum (peak, width)
• Strong absorption at +/- 460nm
• High (quantum) efficiency
• Chemically stable
• Short luminescence lifetime (no saturation)
• Thermal stability
LED
Heat sink
Phosphor
Phosphors for LEDs
27. Nature Materials (2017) 16, p. 500
(Thermal) losses for phosphor converted LEDs
Assuming QE for phosphor of 90%, overall luminous efficacy 180 lum/W.
@pfsmet
29. Lab record – CREE
303 lum/watt
IKEA
PHILIPS
NICHIA
Luminous efficacy (LE)
Fluorescent lighting threshold
DoE
30.
31. RE usage
• Host: yttrium (YAG), dopants: cerium, europium.
• Phosphors and pigments: 7% of RE usage (2013, Roskill)
• Key applications (CRT displays, fluorescent (+ Tb3+)) + LEDs
• On chip: very low phosphor quantities
• In first order, phosphor use does not scale with luminance
32. • Narrow red phosphor
Chemically stable, thermally stable, with high saturation level.
• Narrow banded cyan/green phosphors.
• Phosphors for high brightness applications
Headlights, projectors.
• Improved thermal quenching (quantum deficit)
• Rare earth free (?)
Key issues in phosphor research
40. Colloidal Quantum Dots | what?
̶ 1983, first discovery in Bell Labs
̶ Since 1990’s, accelerated development
Size-Tunable Optical Properties
5nm
diameter
wavelength
produced
as
printable
inks
CdSe/CdS, InP/ZnSe, perovskites,…
41. Lowering synthesis cost of InP QDs
Aminophosphines – a new phosphorous precursor
Song, J. Nanoparticle Res. 2013
Tessier, Chem. Mater. 2015
Kim, Angew. Chemie Int. Ed. 2016
Buffard, Chem. Mater. 2016 Full Green-to-red color range accessible
43. QDs for displays
Colour filtering: balance between color gamut and efficiency
ߣ (nm)
350 450 550 650
transmission
100%
Liquid crystal display Colour filters
44. Displays
• (AM)OLEDs vs LED backlight
Blue OLEDs degrade faster
• Main drivers: colour gamut and efficiency
• Quantum dots (Cd-free…) vs phosphors (Mn4+)
• Electroluminescence from QDs (no filtering, printing,…)
Trends
45. General lighting
• Further efficiency increase needed
• Long lifetime required (>50 khrs)
• Color quality after brightness increase
• Blue LED flux strongly increased
• Very competitive market
Trends
Displays
Other applications
46. Conclusions
• Phosphor converted LEDs : relevant energy saving technology
• RE – based phosphors are key elements (Y, Ce, Eu, Tb)
• Mass to luminance ratio is decreasing
• Some alternative materials available (red Mn4+ fluorides)
• Display backlighting: competitive non-RE technologies
• Phosphors: recycling is an issue!
47. Contact & resources
Philippe Smet
philippe.smet@ugent.be
@pfsmet
http://LumiLab.UGent.be
@UGentLumiLab
Presentation can be downloaded at http://www.slideshare.net/pfsmet
Looking forward to your feedback!