Nanoparticle Tech
The Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS) announced on Oct. 14 that a research team led by Dr. Kim Young-sung from the Center for Nanomaterials Characterization at KRISS has successfully developed a method to maximize product efficiency by changing the structure of nanoparticles.
Currently, LED traffic lights nationwide are made by making a thin film out of gallium nitride. When the thin film is instead created using nanoparticles, it is possible to more than double the time that the traffic lights can last while using less electricity.
The research team found out that when the nanoparticle structure of the gallium nitride thin film changes into a triangle form, the distance between negative and positive electrons is minimized.
Thanks to this discovery, the team made 50 other structures for major semiconductor materials such as zinc oxide used in auto electrical devices and cadmium sulphide needed for optical sensors and photovoltaic power generation.
Dr. Kim remarked, “As gallium nitride is widely used in the semiconductor industry, many companies will be able to utilize the information on the structure of nanoparticles and manufacturing conditions for their own specific products.” He concluded by saying, “Based on this achievement, we will make an effort to develop a technique to make photoelectronic devices using nanoparticles.”