Colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals, also known as “quantum dots” (QDs), represent an example of a disruptive technology for display and lighting applications. The QDs’ high luminescence efficiency and precisely tunable, narrow emission are nearly ideal for achieving saturated colors and enriching the display or TV color gamut. Quantum dot light-emitting diodes (QLEDs) can provide saturated emission colors and allow inexpensive solution-based device fabrication on almost any substrate. The first incorporation of QDs into the consumer market is using them as optical down-converters. Blue light from an efficient high energy light source (e.g., GaN blue LED) is absorbed and reemitted at any desired lower energy wavelength. Alternatively, electric current can be used for direct excitation of QDs. QLEDs are an exciting technical challenge and commercial opportunity for display and solid-state lighting applications. Recent developments in the field show that efficiency and brightness of QLEDs can match those of organic LEDs.

Kohn–Sham density functional theory is the most widely used method of electronic-structure calculation in materials physics and chemistry because it reduces the many-electron ground-state problem to a computationally tractable self-consistent one-electron problem. Exact in principle for the ground-state energy and electron density, it requires in practice an approximation to the density functional for the exchange-correlation energy. Common approximations fall on the rungs of a ladder, with higher rungs being more complicated to construct and use but potentially more accurate. Each rung of the ladder introduces an additional ingredient to the energy density. From bottom to top, the rungs are (1) the local spin density approximation, (2) the generalized gradient approximation (GGA), (3) the meta-GGA, (4) the hybrid functional, and (5) the generalized random phase approximation. The semi-local rungs (1–3) are important, because they are computationally efficient, they can be constructed non-empirically, they can serve as input to fourth-rung functionals, and the meta-GGA by itself can be accurate for equilibrium properties. Recent and continuing improvements to the meta-GGA are emphasized here.

Colloidal quantum dots (QDs) hold great promise as electrically excited emitters in light-emitting diodes (LEDs) for solid-state lighting and display applications, as highlighted recently by the demonstration of a red-emitting QD-LED with efficiency on par with that of commercialized organic LED technologies. In the past five years, important advances have been made in the synthesis of QD materials, the understanding of QD physics, and the integration of QDs into solid-state devices. Insights from this progress can be leveraged to develop a set of guidelines to direct QD-LED innovation. This article reviews the fundamental causes of inefficiency in QD-LEDs understood to date and proposes potential solutions. In particular, we emphasize the challenge in developing QD emitters that exhibit high luminescent quantum yields in the combined presence of charge carriers and electric fields that appear during traditional LED operation. To address this challenge, we suggest possible QD chemistries and active layer designs as well as novel device architectures and modes of QD-LED operation. These recommendations serve as examples of the type of innovations needed to drive development and commercialization of high-performance QD-LEDs.

Lighting consumes almost one-fifth of all electricity generated today. In principle, with more efficient light sources replacing incandescent lamps, this demand can be reduced at least twofold. A dramatic improvement in lighting efficiency is possible by replacing traditional incandescent bulbs with light-emitting diodes (LEDs) in which current is directly converted into photons via the process of electroluminescence. The focus of this article is on the emerging technology of LEDs that use solution-processed semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) as light emitters. QDs are nano-sized semiconductor particles whose emission color can be tuned by simply changing their dimensions. They feature near-unity emission quantum yields and narrow emission bands, which result in excellent color purity. Here, we review spectroscopic studies of QDs that address the problem of nonradiative carrier losses in QD-LEDs and approaches for its mitigation via the appropriate design of QD emitters. An important conclusion of our studies is that the realization of high-performance LEDs might require a new generation of QDs that in addition to being efficient single-exciton emitters would also show high emission efficiency in the multicarrier regime.

The mainstream commercialization of colloidal quantum dots (QDs) for light-emitting applications has begun: Sony televisions emitting QD-enhanced colors are now on sale. The bright and uniquely size-tunable colors of solution-processable semiconducting QDs highlight the potential of electroluminescent QD light-emitting devices (QLEDs) for use in energy-efficient, high-color-quality thin-film display and solid-state lighting applications. Indeed, this year’s report of record-efficiency electrically driven QLEDs rivaling the most efficient molecular organic LEDs, together with the emergence of full-color QLED displays, foreshadow QD technologies that will transcend the optically excited QD-enhanced products already available. In this article, we discuss the key advantages of using QDs as luminophores in LEDs and outline the 19-year evolution of four types of QLEDs that have seen efficiencies rise from less than 0.01% to 18%. With an emphasis on the latest advances, we identify the key scientific and technological challenges facing the commercialization of QLEDs. A quantitative analysis, based on published small-scale synthetic procedures, allows us to estimate the material costs of QDs typical in light-emitting applications when produced in large quantities and to assess their commercial viability.

Emissive saturated colors are key components of new generations of lighting and display technologies. Quantum dots have evolved in the past two decades to fulfill many of the requirements of color purity, stability, and efficiency that are critical to transitioning these materials from the laboratory into these markets. A fundamental feature of quantum dots is the tunability of their emission color through precise control of their size and composition, giving access to UV, visible, and near-infrared wavelengths. Continuing improvements in engineering core–shell quantum dot structures, where a 1–10 nm binary, ternary, or alloyed semiconductor core particle is surrounded by a shell composed of one or more semiconductors of a wider bandgap, have resulted in materials with fluorescence quantum yields that approach unity, narrow symmetric spectral line shapes, and remarkable stabilities. In this article, we review progress in the development of highly luminescent core–shell quantum dots of different semiconductor families in view of their integration in light-emitting applications. CdSe-based quantum dots already fulfill many of the requirements of lighting and display applications in terms of fluorescence quantum yield, color purity, and stability.

Quantum dots (QDs) have inspired researchers to develop innovative optoelectronics applications, and especially the current advances in light-emitting diode (LED) displays have attained production level technology. The most challenging issues in developing practical QD displays are the design of highly efficient and stable nanostructures and control of the interfaces between the nanostructures and device components. This article highlights applications of both color-converting and current-driven QD-LEDs, with emphasis on the synthesis of materials specifically tailored for display applications and fabrication techniques that improve device performance, such as cross-linking and transfer-printing of nanocrystal thin films.