Ultrafast White-Light System Combining a Blue Micro-LED with Organic Blend for Visible Light Communication and Solid-State Lighting

Abstract

Visible light communication (VLC) represents a forefront technology that integrates illumination and data transmission using light-emitting diodes (LEDs). However, conventional phosphor-based LEDs are limited by their narrow bandwidth due to slow photoluminescence (PL) lifetimes and resistive-capacitive (RC) delays, hindering their data transmission capabilities. In this study, we address these limitations by incorporating a highly emissive fluorescent organic green emitter, CC-MP4, which achieves a modulation bandwidth of 185 MHz─approximately 35 times greater than that of traditional phosphors. A commercial orange-red emitter, MEH-PPV, is also employed as a color-conversion material in the VLC system. The Förster resonance energy transfer from CC-MP4 to MEH-PPV decreases the PL lifetimes in the composite blend. When excited by a semipolar (20–21) blue micro-LED with a bandwidth of 1233 MHz, the composite system forms a high-bandwidth white-light source with a correlated color temperature (CCT) of 5249 K, a color rendering index (CRI) of ∼90, and a total bandwidth of 1027 MHz. This white-light system successfully achieves a data rate of 1.62 Gbps using nonreturn-to-zero on–off keying (NRZ-OOK) modulation. Notably, the stability of the CC-MP4 film is confirmed after three months of storage, maintaining robust optical and frequency response performance, which underscores its potential for practical applications in VLC and solid-state lighting (SSL).