White emission using mixtures of CdSe quantum dots and PMMA as a phosphor

White light emitting diodes (LEDs) were fabricated using an InGaN 460 nm blue emission LED chip as the excitation source and CdSe quantum dots dispersed in PMMA as the phosphor. CdSe quantum dots were synthesized by the wet chemical method using CdO and Selenium powder as precursors. The three different size, 2.9, 3.4 and 4.3 nm in diameter, of CdSe quantum dots obtained using this method exhibited emission peaks at 555, 580 and 625 nm, respectively with a quantum yield of 10–30%. Mixed phosphors containing different weight ratio of CdSe and PMMA (1:0.1, 1:1, 1:5 and 1:10 wt%) were deposited on the LED chip to investigate the effects of different weight ratios of CdSe and PMMA on the performance of the white LEDs. The fabricated white LEDs that contained CdSe and PMMA weight ratio at 1:10 showed the best performance and the CIE color coordinates varied less with different applied currents. The luminous efficiency of single phosphor (580 nm CdSe) white LEDs was 5.62 lm/W with a CRI of 15.7, whereas the luminous efficiency of dual phosphors (555, 625 nm CdSe) white LEDs was 3.79 lm/W with a CRI of 61.4 at 20 mA. The CIE coordinates of single and dual phosphors white LEDs varied from (0.33, 0.28) to (0.29, 0.26) and from (0.39, 0.33) to (0.39, 0.32), respectively, when the working current ranged from 5 to 80 mA.