Straightforward fabrication of stable white LEDs by embedding of inorganic UV-LEDs into bulk polymerized polymethyl-methacrylate doped with organic dyes

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 4; no. 1; p. 4400
• Main Authors: Di Martino, Daniela, Beverina, Luca, Sassi, Mauro, Brovelli, Sergio, Tubino, Riccardo, Meinardi, Francesco
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 18.03.2014; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 639/301; 639/624/1020; Humanities and Social Sciences; multidisciplinary; Science
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/srep04400

Stable white-emitting down-converted LEDs are straightforwardly prepared by bulk polymerization of an organic dye doped polymethyl-methacrylate (PMMA) shell directly on top of a highly efficient commercial blue-emitting InGaN LED. Our optimized polymerization procedure allows for extending the form factor of achievable luminescence converter (LUCO) material beyond the conventional thin film form and to directly produce devices with light bulb design. The selected organic dyes, the blue-emitting Coumarin 30 and a red-emitting diketopyrrolopyrrole derivative, exhibit high compatibility with the free radical polymerization reaction of the PMMA matrix and ensure high stability of the final hybrid device. The control of both the thickness of the PMMA shell and the concentration of the dopant dyes allow for fine tuning of the emission color of the LUCO LED and to obtain white light with CIE chromatic coordinates x = 0.32 and y = 0.33, with rendering index as high as 80. This simple and versatile procedure is not dye-exclusive and is therefore extendable to other molecular systems for color-tunable efficient solid-state lighting sources.