Newer technologies, heading to come up with more and more energy-efficient lights, seem to going beyond or outdate the widely used gallium nitride LEDs! The UC San Diego engineers have synthesized a long-sought semi-conducting material capable of paving the way for a new — inexpensive — light emitting diode-type. A new paper in the journal Nano Letters has reported on this development.
Unlike the both positively and negatively charged semiconducting materials needed to build an LED, the engineers have made the new light by synthesizing zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoscale cylinders, transporting positive charges or ‘holes’ — so-called ‘p-type ZnO nanowires.’
Reporting synthesis of high quality p-type zinc oxide nanowires, Deli Wang, an electrical and computer engineering professor from UCSD’s Jacobs School of Engineering said,
Zinc oxide nanostructures are incredibly well studied because they are so easy to make. Now that we have p-type zinc oxide nanowires, the opportunities for LEDs and beyond are endless.
Wang further said,
Zinc oxide is a very good light emitter. Electrically driven zinc oxide single nanowire lasers could serve as high efficiency nanoscale light sources for optical data storage, imaging, and biological and chemical sensing.
Photo Credit: Deli Wang/UCSD
