Progress of Organic/Inorganic Luminescent Materials for Optical Wireless Communication Systems

• Published in: Photonics Vol. 10; no. 6; p. 659
• Main Authors: Martínez, Javier, Osorio-Roman, Igor, Gualdrón-Reyes, Andrés F.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01-06-2023
• Subjects: Bandwidths; Carrier recombination; Communications systems; Data transmission; Electric waves; Electromagnetic radiation; Electromagnetic waves; Electromagnetism; Emissions; Information processing; Latency; Ligands; light conversion; Light emitting diodes; luminescent materials; Nanocrystals; Network latency; Optical communication; optical properties; Optical wireless; Organic chemistry; Phosphors; Polymers; Quantum dots; radiative recombination; Recombination; Semiconductors; Spectrum allocation; Supply and demand; Telecommunication systems; visible light communication; Wireless communication systems; Wireless communications
• ISSN: 2304-6732; 2304-6732
• DOI: 10.3390/photonics10060659

The growing demand for faster data transference and communication allowed the development of faster and more efficient communication network-based technologies, with wider bandwidth capability, high resilience to electromagnetic radiation, and low latency for information travelling. To provide a suitable alternative to satisfy data transmission and consumption demand, wireless systems were established after a decade of studies on this topic. More recently, visible light communication (VLC) processes were incorporated as interesting wireless approaches that make use of a wide frequency communication spectrum to reach higher bandwidth values and accelerate the speed of data/information transmission. For this aim, light converters, such as phosphor materials, are reported to efficiently convert blue light into green, yellow, and red emissions; however, long carrier lifetimes are achieved to enlarge the frequency bandwidth, thereby delaying the data transference rate. In this review, we focused on recent advances using different luminescent materials based on prominent polymers, organic molecules, and semiconductor nanocrystals with improved photophysical properties and favored carrier recombination dynamics, which are suitable to enhance the VLC process. Here, the main features of the above materials are highlighted, providing a perspective on the use of luminescent systems for efficient optical communication applications.