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posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday February 25 2020, @12:46PM   Printer-friendly
from the let-there-be-light dept.

Creating custom light using 2D materials:

Finding new semi-conductor materials that emit light is essential for developing a wide range of electronic devices. But making artificial structures that emit light tailored to our specific needs is an even more attractive proposition. However, light emission in a semi-conductor only occurs when certain conditions are met. Today, researchers from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, in collaboration with the University of Manchester, have discovered an entire class of two-dimensional materials that are the thickness of one or a few atoms. When combined together, these atomically thin crystals are capable of forming structures that emit customisable light in the desired colour. This research, published in the journal Nature Materials, marks an important step towards the future industrialisation of two-dimensional materials.

[...] "Our objective was to manage to combine different two-dimensional materials to emit light while being free from all constraints," continues professor Morpurgo. The physicists thought that, if they could find a class of materials where the velocity of the electrons before and after the change in energy level was zero, it would be an ideal scenario which would always meet the conditions for light emission, regardless of the details of the crystal lattices and their relative orientation.

A large number of known two-dimensional semi-conductors have a zero-electron velocity in the relevant energy levels. Thanks to this diversity of compounds, many different materials can be combined, and each combination is a new artificial semi-conductor emitting light of a specific colour. "Once we had the idea, it was easy to find the materials to use to implement it," adds professor Vladimir Fal'ko from the University of Manchester. Materials that were used in the research included various transition metal dichalcogenides (such as MoS2, MoSe2 and WS2) and InSe. Other possible materials have been identified and will be useful for widening the range of colours of the light emitted by these new artificial semi-conductors.

"The great advantage of these 2D materials, thanks to the fact that there are no more preconditions for the emission of light, is that they provide new strategies for manipulating the light as we see fit, with the energy and colour that we want to have," continues Ubrig. This means it is possible to devise future applications on an industrial level, since the emitted light is robust and there is no longer any need to worry about the alignment of atoms.

Nicolas Ubrig, et. al. Design of van der Waals interfaces for broad-spectrum optoelectronics. Nature Materials, 2020; DOI: 10.1038/s41563-019-0601-3


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  • (Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Tuesday February 25 2020, @01:04PM (1 child)

    by hendrikboom (1125) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday February 25 2020, @01:04PM (#962332) Homepage Journal

    Now if the energy required to make these new materials emit slight of a specific frequency could come, say, from sunlight of al frequencies, we might have a chance at genuine colour e-ink displays.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 25 2020, @02:17PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 25 2020, @02:17PM (#962365)

    640 colors should be enough for anybody.

    • (Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday February 25 2020, @02:27PM (1 child)

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Tuesday February 25 2020, @02:27PM (#962372) Journal

      640 shades of grey.

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      • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 25 2020, @04:01PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 25 2020, @04:01PM (#962409)

        mmm.... pixel bondage

    • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday February 25 2020, @08:20PM

      by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday February 25 2020, @08:20PM (#962530) Journal

      Forget 640 colors.

      How about 640 pixels.

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      People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 25 2020, @03:58PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 25 2020, @03:58PM (#962406)

    what would be really cool, is if you assemble the right (commonly available materials) in the right shape a dot of light would appear.
    imagine a cardboard box with a dot of light sitting in the middle, connected to nothing.
    just by assembling the right "stuff" in the right shape (btw no moving parts and works in completely dark places to begin with. also no atoms were hurt in the process (geiger is taking a loooong nap)) ... you could coax space itself to emit light? ^_^

    • (Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Tuesday February 25 2020, @04:04PM

      by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us (6553) on Tuesday February 25 2020, @04:04PM (#962410) Journal

      yeah, and then you cover the inside of the box with frictionless solar panels, that way you can capture that energy at 100% conversion. The only constraint is that the box would have to be colored black.

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  • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday February 25 2020, @08:19PM (1 child)

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday February 25 2020, @08:19PM (#962528) Journal

    Many ordinary materials can become incandescent if you pass sufficient amounts of current through them. It's the stupid oxygen that causes problems and prematurely terminates the experiments in the garage. (the principle investigator's wife insisted the experiments be moved to the garage.)

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    People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 25 2020, @08:41PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 25 2020, @08:41PM (#962536)

      Why did your wife prefer to be electrocuted in the garage?

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