Color-Tunable Light-Emitting Device Based on the Mixture of CdSe Nanorods and Dots Embedded in Liquid-Crystal Cells

A newly designed color-tunable light-emitting device based on the mixture of CdSe nanorods and quantum dots embedded in liquid-crystal cells has been developed. The underlying working principle is derived from a large alignment energy due to the enhanced anchoring force of liquid-crystal molecules through the amplified surface area of nanorods. After they are embedded into a liquid-crystal cell, nanorods will align along the orientation of liquid-crystal molecules. As the external bias is applied, nanorods would be driven in the direction according to the orientation of liquid-crystal molecules. The nanorods possess optically anisotropic properties, whereas quantum dots are spherically symmetric. Accordingly, the relative ratio of the emission intensity between quantum dots and nanorods can be manipulated by an external bias, and the emission color of the device is, therefore, tunable. Our work shown here may pave a new route for the future development of smart optoelectronic devices.