A new approach to Solid State Lighting: Silver-zeolites-based OLEDs "ZEOLEDS"

The mismatch between the amount of energy required to maintain current wellbeing and production levels creates an unsustainable situation, leading to a growing concern about energy consumption, and more specifically about electricity consumption. For this reason a smarter use of energy is a primary objective, more efficient conversion of electricity into other forms of energy being one example. In particular the conversion of electricity into light is very widespread, and currently the state-of-the-art in terms of efficiency corresponds to solid state lighting (SSL) devices using rare-earth elements. However, these devices still have important limitations as they are based on very scarce and expensive materials, which for the moment are only produced in China. Furthermore their extraction and separation is problematic from an environmental point of view, which can become an issue with the tightening of environmental regulations. These factors compromise the long-term viability of lighting devices based on rare earths. Accordingly, this project proposes the creation of a new type of SSL device based on cheaper and more environmental friendly materials with promising electroluminescent performance: silver zeolitesbased OLEDs (ZEOLEDs). The two concrete outcomes of this project are: a deep understanding of the processes occurring in ZEOLEDs, and the design and fabrication of a performant commercially viable prototype.