Grant: Engage Grants Program

Solid-state lighting, based on light-emitting diodes (LEDs), offers substantial energy savings over conventional incandescent or fluorescent light bulbs, but there is a need to generate devices that meet consumer demands for a controlled colour spectrum, low device cost, and environmentally friendly production. There is great potential that this immediate international market need can be met by an entirely new collaboration between a Canadian academic with research expertise in nanomaterial synthesis (Dr. Kristin Poduska, Memorial University) and a Canadian company that is well-positioned in the solid-state lighting market (Lumentra, Inc). Lumentra's specific product development aims to provide LED white light with outstanding color rendering index. LED white light has traditionally been generated by coating the surface of a high-efficiency blue LED (based on gallium nitride materials) with a multi-phosphor material (nitride-based europium phosphors). As the LED is powered, a portion of the blue light from the LED will leak through the phosphor coating, while a fraction of it will be down-converted by the phosphor into the yellow region of the colour spectrum. The resulting composite light is perceived as white by the human eye. A key aspect of Lumentra's mission - the development of phosphor nanomaterials - is the focus of the proposed academic-industrial partnership. Because the material development targeted in this research partnership would serve an industry-wide need that plays to an international market, success in the research partnership could also lead to dramatically increased market share for Canadian industry in the area of solid-state lighting. The world-wide LED lighting market has grown dramatically in recent years, with 30% annual growth rates projected and total sales topping the $1 billion mark within the next three years. This considerable growth is fueled by the type of illuminating light applications that are currently targeted by Lumentra's nanophosphor technology.