Grant: Strategic Projects - Group

General lighting accounts for more than 20 percent of the word's total electricity production, and is responsible for ca. 1.9 gigatones of carbon dioxide emission. Commercial and industrial sectors, which together constitute over 60 % of the overall lighting demand, are seeking safer, more efficient, and longer lasting alternatives to traditionally used halogen and fluorescent sources. Although solid-state lighting is seen as the long-term solution, its broader adoption in these market segments is hampered by comparatively high cost, which is partly caused by the use of strategically deficient and/or environmentally harmful elements, as well as by the design and manufacturing complexity. In partnership with two Canadian companies, Metalumen Manufacturing and OTI Lumionics, the goal of this project is to develop novel solid state lighting technologies based on robust, environmentally benign, and earth-abundant metal oxide quantum dots. Using a combination of steady-state and time-resolved spectroscopies at the ensemble and single nanostructure levels, together with theoretical modelling, we will elucidate the origin of the photoluminescence properties of these nanostructures arising from the presence of native defects. We will apply the findings of this fundamental investigation for the rational design and synthesis of novel luminescent metal oxide quantum dots with the desired spectral properties. The optimized metal oxide quantum dots will subsequently be used as electroluminescent components in novel light emitting devices that can be fabricated using simple solution coating and vacuum deposition techniques, with the potential to lower manufacturing costs. The ability to induce energy transfer in hybrid metal oxide nanoconjugates and externally manipulate defect interactions in individual nanocrystals will be used to generate white light with desired characteristics (chromaticity, correlated colour temperature, and colour rendering index) and ultimately achieve dynamic tuning of the light output. Successful realization of this project will generate new efficient and sustainable lighting technologies which will improve Canada's competitiveness, and open new market opportunities for our industrial partners.