Researchers from Calicut varsity develop cost-effective nanoclusters
Researchers from the Department of Nanoscience and Technology at the University of Calicut have developed a novel device based on gold–copper alloy nanoclusters, a ground-breaking advancement in next-generation light-emitting diode (LED) technology.
E.S. Shibu, Assistant Professor at the Smart Materials Lab attached to the department, and Rival Jose, his PhD student, are behind the initiative. They claim that although invisible to the naked eye, these clusters display exceptional photophysical properties, including strong light emission, excellent photo and thermal stability, and environmental compatibility. These qualities make them ideal for future applications in sustainable lighting, display technologies, and biomedical imaging.
According to Mr. Shibu and Mr. Jose, what sets this innovation apart is its fabrication method—a simple, solution-based, environmentally friendly process that avoids the use of toxic or expensive host materials. This makes the technology both sustainable and cost-effective. The core of the invention lies in atomically precise nanoclusters made of just a few metal atoms, they say.
The newly developed nanocluster-based LED emits pure red light and achieves an external quantum efficiency of 12.6%. Mr. Shibu says that this is among the highest performances recorded in the category of nanocluster-based, solution-processed, non-doped LEDs with saturated red emission.
Their findings were published in Advanced Materials (Wiley), one of the most prestigious journals in the field of materials science, with an impressive impact factor of 27.4. This also marks the first-ever publication from the University of Calicut in such a high-impact journal.
The achievement was made possible through national and international collaborations with institutions such as the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, Tampere University, Finland, and Hokkaido University, Japan. The research was primarily supported by funding from the Department of Science and Technology- Promotion of University Research and Scientific Excellence, with additional support from Science and Engineering Research Board-Startup Research Grant, Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment-Science Research Scheme, and Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.
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