PI: Michael Bockstaller, Materials Science and Engineering
Co-PI(s): Zhao Lu, Materials Science and Engineering
Solid-state lighting technologies hold the potential to save 217 terawatt-hours, or about one-third of lighting site electricity consumption, by 2025. One major barrier to the advancement of current solid-state lighting luminaires is the poor thermal conductivity of polymer encapsulants that limit energy efficiency, lumens output and manufacturability of devices. In this project a new process for the fabrication of hybrid encapsulants with increased thermal conductivity and photothermal stability is developed. Excluded volume interactions between asymmetric filler inclusions are being used to enable the assembly of high thermal conductivity particle fillers into ‘thermal network structures’ that result in high thermal conductivity at low particle loading levels. Development, testing and device integration of novel materials systems will be pursued in collaboration with researchers at OSRAM Sylvania, the leading provider of solid-state lighting solutions in North America.