Technology Spotlight: Episode 6
These aren’t your father’s metal halides! Learn about new and emerging opportunities for this legacy chemistry.
Metal halides, compounds of metals and halogens, are most famously associated with high-intensity-discharge (HID) lighting for industrial, automotive, and residential applications. The bright white light produced when electricity passes through metal halides within a quartz arc tube is more luminous than traditional incandescent and mercury vapor lighting. Do the street lights on your block stutter a bit at dusk and then slowly gain their intensity? That’s HID technology in action.
HID lighting had a tremendous run, from the 1960s until recent years, when light-emitting-diode (LED) semiconductors transitioned from simple indicator lamps to display screens to all kinds of modern lighting. Remember your first pocket calculator or digital watch with the glowing red numerical display? That was likely your first introduction to LEDs.
While lighting is the most ubiquitous example of metal halides in service, there are many other significant and emerging applications relevant to a wide array of industries. Here are a few to spark your interest:
ALD/CVD - Metal halides serve as precursors in atomic layer deposition (ALD) and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of defect-free coatings on optical fibers and semiconductors for surface protection and insulation. The ability to customize nanoscale layer composition is almost endless. Examples include integrated circuitry, hydrophobic coatings, and synthetic gem production.
Chemical synthesis – Metal halides form the basis for a variety of chemical synthesis routes. Catalysts for Diels-Alder reactions, olefin metathesis and coordination chemistry; initiators for cationic polymerization; and turbo-Grignards for halogen-magnesium exchange are but some of the uses practiced on laboratory and industrial scales.
Oil/gas – Metal halide salts are found in hydraulic fracturing fluid additives and brine fluids for downhole oil and gas extraction. These fluids control well pressure, cool and lubricate tools and pipes, transport treatments and solids, minimize equipment damage, and shorten operation time.
Photovoltaics - Metal halide perovskites have shown the potential for high performance and low production cost in photovoltaics, specifically, solar cells. “Perovskite” refers to their crystal structure. Perovskite solar cells have rapidly improved in power conversion efficiency and are gaining on conventional photovoltaics for energy storage and distribution.
Photonics – Emission control of perovskite lasers can be tuned by the mix of metal halides in the crystal structure. Advances in the control of polarization, wavelength, etc. and stability of these lasers will enable new chemical imaging, sensor, analyzer, and defense applications.
Radioisotope identity detection – The ability of metal halide perovskite (MHP) semiconductors to detect x-rays and gamma-rays are fundamental to high-sensitivity scanning devices used for homeland security, medical imaging, nuclear inspection, astrophysical studies, and the general sciences.
Want to learn more about metal halides, where to source them, and how to find collaboration opportunities? Reach out for a free initial consultation today.