Polycarbonate light guide plates with embedded quantum dots fabricated by large-scale injection moulding for wide colour gamut displays. (March 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Chen, Guan-Hong; Yang, Shao-Hsuan; Yeh, Chang-Wei; Ho, Shih-Jung; Liu, Meng-Chi; Chen, Hsueh-Shih
• Is Part Of: Materials & design. Volume 201(2021)
• Publication Date: 2021-03
• Subjects: QDs -- Light guide -- Injection moulding -- Colour gamut -- Lighting -- Display; Materials -- Periodicals; Engineering design -- Periodicals; Matériaux -- Périodiques; Conception technique -- Périodiques; Electronic journals; 620.11
• DOI: 10.1016/j.matdes.2021.109504
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0264-1275

Abstract

Abstract: A fabrication process of polycarbonate (PC) light guide plate (LGP) incorporating fluorescent quantum dots (QDs) is presented in this study. QD-PC composite pellets with dimension of 500 to 2500 μm were first prepared from a mixture of polyethylene-treated QDs and PC resin powder, followed by injection moulding to form a QD-LGP between 340 and 295 °C. The fabricated QD-LGPs demonstrated dual functions of light guiding and QD colour conversion, which is conventionally provided by a LGP covered with an additional QD diffuser film. By directly embedding QDs into a LGP, it was found that a rather low cadmium content around 41 ppm was sufficient to provide a uniform backlighting for a liquid-crystal display with a colour gamut of ~115% NTSC standard. Graphical abstract: Unlabelled Image Highlights: Quantum dots are incorporated into polycarbonate light guide plates as an alternative design of wide-gamut backlight. The quantum-dots-based light guide plate is fabricated with an industrial injection moulding production line. The consumption of quantum dots material is reduced to only 0.06 wt% where the cadmium content is lower than 50 ppm. A double-edge lighting 3.4″ quantum-dots-based backlight with uniform planar lighting reaches ~115% of NTSC standard.