OSU researchers: 'Superacid' can lead to cheaper, safer LEDs

A “superacid” much stronger than automobile battery acid has enabled a key advance toward a new generation of LED lighting that’s safer, less expensive and more user-friendly. Researchers at Oregon State University used the organic superacid to improve the performance of “quantum dots” made from copper indium disulfide, a compound much less toxic than the lead or cadmium that typically serve as the basis for the light-emitting nanocrystals. Used in optics and electronics, quantum dots have been around for some time. But they can be expensive to manufacture as well as unsafe for some potential applications, including biomedical imaging, because of lead and cadmium’s toxicity.