Researchers were able to create different colors of LED light "By inserting platinum atoms into an organic semiconductor," which brought them one step closer to creating an inexpensive and truly white LED.
"These new, platinum-rich polymers hold promise for white organic light-emitting diodes and new kinds of more efficient solar cells," study leader University of Utah physicist Z. Valy Vardeny said in a news release.
Organic LED or OLED lights bulbs and cell phone screens are not truly white light, they are often a combination of several color-emiting materials designed to create white light. The light is usually created from a mixture of red, green and blue pixels.
"This new polymer has all those colors simultaneously, so no need for small pixels and complicated engineering to create them," Vardeny said. "This polymer emits light in the blue and red spectral range, and can be tuned to cover the whole visible spectrum. As such, it can serve as the active [or working] layer in white OLEDs that are predicted to replace regular light bulbs."
The technology could be used for more than just cell phone displays. They could aid solar power cells by working to convert sunlight into electricity. The platinum-rich polymer would allow scientists to "read electrons' 'spins' or intrinsic angular momentum," which could be used in the development of computer memory.
Researchers have not yet figured out how to create OLEDs with this process because the polymers can only create light when stimulated by other light, OLEDs must be stimulated with an electric current.
"We haven't yet fabricated an OLED with it," Vardeny said. "The paper shows we get multiple colors simultaneously from one polymer," which means it would be possible to create an OLED that emits light with a single pixel.
The researchers predict it will be about two years before a truly white LED light is created.
