Recently, a groundbreaking research collaboration between Heilongjiang University, Tsinghua University, and the National University of Singapore was officially published in Nature, successfully overcoming the global challenge of efficient electroluminescence of insulating rare earth nanocrystals. This study provides key core technological support for the strategic transformation of China’s rare earth resources from “raw material export” to “high value-added technology output”.
Screenshot of articles on the Nature website
Rare earth is an irreplaceable strategic resource, known as the “industrial vitamin”. China has advantages in rare earth resource reserves and smelting, but still faces industrial bottlenecks in high-end functional materials and devices. Although lanthanide doped nanocrystals have excellent properties such as high color purity and good stability as ideal luminescent materials, their inherent “insulation” properties prevent them from being directly illuminated by current, which has long hindered their high-value optoelectronic applications.
In the face of this bottleneck that restricts the high-end application of rare earth materials, the research team has innovatively proposed an organic semiconductor sensitization strategy, using functionalized organic ligands as a “photoelectric bridge” to accurately and efficiently transfer energy to insulating rare earth nanocrystals, achieving efficient luminescence under current drive.
Schematic diagram of the design and energy transfer mechanism of organic-inorganic hybrid luminescent units (provided by the research team)
This technology demonstrates great potential for application: the efficiency of electroluminescent devices is increased by 76 times, and full spectrum luminescence can be achieved through rare earth ion regulation in a single device. This marks a key breakthrough in the field of rare earth high-end optoelectronic applications in China, providing a new material system for the development of independent and controllable new generation information technologies such as ultra high definition displays, near-infrared communication, and biomedicine.
This breakthrough has successfully opened up a technological path for transforming the characteristics of rare earth materials into high-end device functions, making substantial contributions to enhancing the independent innovation capability and added value of China’s rare earth industry chain.
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