LAMP · LASER INDUCED SYNTHESIS OF POLYMERIC NANOCOMPOSITE MATERIALS AND DEVELOPMENT OF MICRO-PATTERNED HYBRID LIGHT EMITTING DIODES (LED) AND TRANSISTORS (LET)

The project described in this proposal aims at developing a new methodology to obtain semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) regioselectively in a polymeric matrix by means of a heating probe (laser). This new method is designed to produce light emitting devices (LED/T) based on semiconductor/polymer nanocomposite emission without using lithographic processes.This type of effect is possible because, after being heated, certain types of molecules produce metal or semiconductor QDs. If this process is carried out in polymeric foil, the resulting nanocomposite can be used for several purposes. It may be particularly appealing for industrial applications since it results in conducting/semiconducting micro/nano-regions in predetermined areas of the polymer without any patterning process. The potential applications of this technology can be utilized in many fields such as memory data storage, labelling of goods and, as proposed in this project, for the construction of displays.Producing a LED/T with this methodology requires selecting several types of polymers, metal-thiolate precursors (both metal and thiol group), lasers and LED/T architectures. To simplify the concept, the whole process sequence involves material synthesis as the first step, then the formation of the polymer/precursor foil, its laser irradiation in specific regions so that only the irradiated region will be enriched with QD, and, finally, testing the LED/T.Combining the electro-optical properties of QDs, the ease of processing of polymers and the use of laser will allow for the construction of a light-emitting device (LED/T) with increased life-time as well as obtaining matrices of LED/Ts (pixels) without any patterning or inkjet processing.The expected results of this project are: i) understanding the mechanism of the nanocomposites formation in situ" and its optimization and ii) the formation of LED/T with enhanced electro-optical properties (QDs) without the use of any patterning process."