As Europe seeks to strengthen its resilience against supply-chain disruptions and reduce dependence on strategically sensitive resources, understanding the criticality of raw materials used in emerging technologies has become increasingly important. Recent research by Professor Rosario Vidal and colleagues at the Institute of Advanced Materials (INAM), Universitat Jaume I, provides new evidence that perovskite light-emitting diodes (LEDs) could offer significant advantages over conventional LED technologies from a critical raw materials perspective.
Critical Raw Materials (CRMs) are substances that combine high economic importance with a significant risk of supply disruption. However, European CRM lists are regularly updated, with materials being added or removed as geopolitical and economic conditions evolve. This creates uncertainty for researchers and technology developers seeking to reduce reliance on critical resources.
Prof. Vidal's research applies a product-level criticality assessment approach, integrating principles commonly used in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Rather than evaluating individual materials in isolation, the study examines the criticality associated with delivering a specific technological function. This approach allows emerging and established technologies to be compared on an equal basis.
The team analysed a perovskite LED based on the material CsPbBr₃ and compared it with a conventional gallium-based LED. Several performance-related scenarios were investigated, including differences in luminance, operational lifetime, and future changes in material reserves.
The results consistently indicate a lower critical raw material burden for the perovskite LED when compared with the conventional alternative. Importantly, the analysis also identified specific material hotspots that warrant continued monitoring as the technology advances toward commercial deployment. These insights can help guide future research and innovation efforts aimed at improving both the sustainability and resilience of next-generation optoelectronic devices.
The findings are particularly relevant for projects such as SUPERLASER, which are developing advanced photonic technologies while considering their broader environmental and resource implications. By combining criticality assessment with life-cycle thinking, the research contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of how emerging materials can support Europe's transition toward sustainable and strategically secure technologies.
Professor Rosario Vidal presented these results at the 2026 Spring Meeting of the European Materials Research Society (eMRS), one of Europe's leading conferences for materials science and innovation. Click here to see the presentation.
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