Chinese scientists develop world’s smallest LED display with virus-sized pixels

A team of Chinese physicists, engineers, opticians, and photonics specialists from Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China, has developed virus-sized pixels, enabling the creation of the world’s smallest light-emitting diode (LED) displays.

With support from researchers at the University of Cambridge, the team has produced LED displays smaller than a grain of sand—an achievement with significant implications for electronic screens, such as those in smartphones, where increasing pixel density enhances image sharpness and quality.

Currently, the most advanced tiny-pixel technology relies on micro-LEDs made from II-V compound semiconductors. However, shrinking micro-LEDs further presents major challenges, including high costs and inefficiencies with existing materials.

To address these issues, Baodan Zhao and her team at Zhejiang University turned to perovskite, a cost-effective and promising material widely studied for solar panels. Their research led to the development of nano-scale LEDs (nano-PeLEDs), featuring pixel sizes just 90 nanometers wide.

Unlike conventional LEDs, which degrade quickly at small scales, these perovskite-based LEDs maintain exceptional brightness. Perovskite’s unique crystal structure makes it an ideal material for LEDs, offering efficient charge transport that enables rapid and effective conversion of electricity into light.

Additionally, perovskite is highly tunable, allowing researchers to modify its composition, adjust colors, and enhance performance. Originally renowned for its potential in solar energy, perovskite is now emerging as a game-changer in display technology. Unlike traditional materials, it can be processed at low temperatures and even printed, paving the way for affordable, ultra-high-resolution micro and nano-LED displays.