Imagine turning on your television to watch a nature documentary on birds of paradise; The images you see are so vivid and colourful, watching the luminescent birds fly across your screen transports you momentarily from your living room to the rainforest of New Guinea. With the latest developments in quantum dot (QD) technologies by Nanolumi, this could soon be a reality.
Founded in 2018, Nanolumi is an advanced materials company offering products based on perovskite quantum dot technology, licensed from the NUS Department of Chemistry. Perovskite quantum dots are high performing semi-conductive nanocrystals that have the unique emissive properties to re-create bright, pure and life-like colours on displays.
Nanolumi has commercialised this technology, incorporating it into its flagship product, the Chameleon® G Film, launched in November 2019. Chameleon® G Film is a colour enhancement film for QD displays, monitors and TVs. It is able to achieve exceptional brightness, unparalleled colour performance and life-like details, while simultaneously consuming less electrical power. Another benefit of Chameleon® G Film is that it is cadmium-free. While cadmium is approved for use in electronic equipment, there are concerns of it being a human carcinogen that affects multiple organ systems. Being cadmium-free means Nanolumi’s Chameleon® G Film is fully-compliant with the Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS) for use in consumer applications internationally.
Nanolumi is partnering with display manufacturers to incorporate their quantum dot technology in consumer products for improved display performance and viewing experience. The company expects the first consumer product to be available in 2020.
“While the superior advantages of perovskite quantum dots have been highly coveted by top display manufacturers, overcoming major challenges related to stability and scalability prevented it from being the material of choice for QD displays. Our teams’ deep knowledge on perovskite semiconductors have led to breakthroughs that have successfully removed the barriers for bringing perovskite quantum dots from lab to market,” said Jax Lee, CEO of Nanolumi. “As disruptive materials typically have a long product development cycle, we continue to collaborate closely with NUS and other industry partners for product development and commercialisation.”
Jax and his co-founder Tan Zhi Kuang had their entrepreneurial sparks ignited while on the NUS Overseas Colleges Programme, where they interned at tech start-ups in Silicon Valley in 2007 and 2008. They were also part of the Lean Launchpad Programme, where their team validated perovskite quantum dot technology before licensing it from NUS for Nanolumi.
Science is at the heart of how Nanolumi makes a difference in the world. In addition to developing its own proprietary products, Nanolumi also leverages upon its multi-disciplinary, cross-functional knowledge in nanomaterials, optics, polymer chemistry and coating engineering to coach and collaborate with aspiring advanced materials scientists and entrepreneurs on their innovation journey. In doing so, Nanolumi supports the advance materials community in product development and commercialisation of their technologies so they too can make a difference through their work.
“Material innovation is our core competency. Our platform technology addresses various multi-faceted applications. Within the consumer electronics display sector, we have multiple new products in the pipeline. In addition, we are also exploring new applications in agri-tech, imaging and anti-counterfeit,” concluded Jax.
