Near-Infrared Nanophosphors Based on CuInSe₂ Quantum Dots with Near-Unity Photoluminescence Quantum Yield for Micro-LEDs Applications

Highly efficient near-infrared (NIR) luminescent nanomaterials are urgently required for portable mini or micro phosphors-converted light-emitting diodes (pc-LEDs). However, most existing NIR-emitting phosphors are generally restricted by their low photoluminescence (PL) quantum yield (QY) or large particle size. Herein, a kind of highly efficient NIR nanophosphors is developed based on copper indium selenide quantum dots (CISe QDs). The PL peak of these QDs can be exquisitely manipulated from 750 to 1150 nm by altering the stoichiometry of Cu/In and doping with Zn2+. Their absolute PLQY can be significantly improved from 28.6% to 92.8% via coating a ZnSe shell. By combining the phosphors with a commercial blue chip, an NIR pc-LED is fabricated with remarkable photostability and a record-high radiant flux of 88.7 mW@350 mA among the Pb/Cd-free QDs-based NIR pc-LEDs. Particularly, such QDs-based nanophosphors acted as excellent luminescence converter for NIR micro-LEDs with microarray diameters below 5 mu m, which significantly exceeds the resolutions of current commercial inkjet display pixels. The findings may open new avenues for the exploration of highly efficient NIR micro-LEDs in a variety of applications.