"It can potentially revolutionise lighting technology. In general, the cost of LED lighting has been a big concern thus far. Energy savings have not balanced out high costs. This could change that," said assistant professor Zhibin Yu of Florida State University's Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering.
Yu developed this new LED technology using a combination of organic and inorganic materials.
The new material, which dissolves and can be applied like paint, shines a blue, green or red light and can be used to make a light bulb.
Most LED materials require engineers to put four or five layers of material on top of each other to create the desired product or effect. Yu's material only requires one layer.
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"In the future, to do manufacturing, it's a big challenge if you have to deal with multiple layers," he said.
Yu's research has been awarded by the US National Science Foundation to further investigate the essential materials and establish the processing platform for the development of intrinsically stretchable, active-matrix organic LED displays.
Other authors on the study include Florida State University post doctoral researcher Junqiang Li and graduate students Sri Ganesh Bade and Xin Shan.