Research and improvements in LED technology have impacted everything from television screens to life-changing electronic vision. With the vast potential of LED technology, scientists are looking to improve the efficiency of LEDs as well as simplify the manufacturing process.
A team at the California Nanosystems Institute at UCLA is focusing on the science of electroluminescence to accomplish this by demonstrating this process from multilayer molybdenum disulfide.
In the new study, UCLA’s Xianfeng Duan was able to show that the multilayer molybdenum disulfide—the relatively cheap and easy to produce material—can, contrary to popular belief, show strong luminescence qualities when electrical current passes through.
Prior to focusing his attention on building better LEDs, Duan focused his research efforts on topics such as graphene’s applications in transistors and applying nanoscale materials to solar energy efforts.
“It was rather surprising for us to discover that similar vertical devices made of multilayer MoS2 somehow showed very strong electroluminescence, which was completely unexpected since the multilayer MoS2 is generally believed to be optically inactive,” said Duan.
With the efficacy levels of LEDs on the rise and the immense potential of this technology, researchers are excited to see how the combination of electroluminescence and LEDs will impact society.
“Now we’re at light emitting diodes, which are very efficient and run cool. What has changed is the need for a grid. I think the world is going electrochemical, or at least electrical and becoming more efficient,” said Alvin J. Salkind, a world-leader in battery technology and unrelated to this research.
