Fluorescent Proteins For Color-Conversion Light-Emitting Diodes

Sedat Nizamoglu

doi:10.19113/sdufbed.89206

Abstract

Biologically derived fluorescent proteins are an attractive alternative to current color-conversion materials for solid state lighting applications, such as inorganic phosphors, organic dyes and nanocrystal quantum dots. Despite extensive research into fluorescent proteins for biological applications, they were not explored to be used for color-conversion for light-emitting diodes. In this study we investigate the in-solution characteristics of enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) and monomeric cherry (mCherry) for LED applications. We demonstrate that these proteins can be used to completely convert the electroluminescence of a pump LED to photoluminescence. We show that up to typical pump driving current (150 mA) there is no saturation or bleaching of the proteins. Moreover, we compare the performance of in-solution unpurified and purified proteins as color convertors for LEDs and we show that unpurified fluorescent proteins in solution are suitable for color conversion applications.

Highlights

Occurring fluorescent proteins had been studied as early as the 1960s, but it wasn’t until the 1990s that their full potential began to be exploited [1]
No difference was observed between the absorption and photoluminescence spectra for either enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) or monomeric cherry (mCherry) pure solution and lysis
Organic dyes would be promising materials for color conversion application because of their low toxicity and relative ease of production; most suffer from their strong static and dynamic quenching preventing their use at high concentration

Summary

Introduction

Occurring fluorescent proteins had been studied as early as the 1960s, but it wasn’t until the 1990s that their full potential began to be exploited [1]. Fluorescent proteins are available in many different colors, from blue to deep red, and are a ubiquitous tool in molecular biology [2]. Solid state lighting (SSL), and in particular the light emitting diode (LED), is one of the most important modern technologies. They are replacing existing lighting technologies such as incandescent and fluorescent bulbs for both general lighting and high luminescence applications [5]. The majority of LEDs are based on inorganic semiconductor materials. The common white LEDs are coated with the inorganic phosphor Ce:YAG as a color‐conversion layer. The Ce:YAG phosphor absorbs a portion of the blue electroluminescence from the inorganic semiconductor LED and emits a broad yellow

Methods

Results

Conclusion