White light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are the lighting of the future due to their potential energy savings and the proven success with monochromatic LEDs. However, white LEDs require an expensive fabrication process involving the incorporation of many different monochromatic semiconductors into a single LED; this is often referred to as color mixing. In 2005, a new class of semiconductors was discovered which is called ultrasmall CdSe quantum dots. This new class of material emits perfect, white light, so the integration of ultrasmall CdSe quantum dots into LEDs would result in the eradication of all the costs associated with color mixing. Since its discovery, the brightness of ultrasmall CdSe nanocrystals has increased over time from a ~2% quantum yield to ~31 with a brightening method which has been termed the formic acid treatment. This thesis pertains to the improvement and LED amalgamation of these brighter ultrasmall CdSe quantum dots. In particular, many experiments were done with the goal of improving the formic acid treatment, and in the process, much was discovered about the mechanics of the brightening method. The last chapter of the thesis concludes about the results and gives possible future directions including characterization methods and another possible brightening method.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VANDERBILT/oai:VANDERBILTETD:etd-04102013-001325 |
| Date | 22 April 2013 |
| Creators | Harrell, Sarah-Ann Michelle |
| Contributors | Sharon M. Weiss, Sandra J. Rosenthal |
| Publisher | VANDERBILT |
| Source Sets | Vanderbilt University Theses |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.vanderbilt.edu/available/etd-04102013-001325/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to Vanderbilt University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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