[Voiceover] Scientists from China and Singapore say they've developed a way for rare earths to emit light when powered by electricity, potentially paving the way for their use in light emitting diodes, or LEDs. In LEDs, an electric current stimulates a material, like gallium nitrade, which emits light. And although rare earths are known for their bright and stable light, they're also known for being insulated, meaning electricity won't pass through it. For that reason, rare earths are rarely used in LEDs. That might be changing. A joint team from Heilongjiang University, and Tsinghua University in China and the National University of Singapore have designed a special molecular coating that acts as an "energy-conversion layer" for the rare earths. The coating wraps around each rare earth nanocrystal, capturing electrical energy and efficiently transferring it to the rare earth element within, which then emits light. [Soundbite] Han Sanyang, associate professor, Tsinghua University: "We designed a composite material consisting of rare earth nanoparticles and organic semiconductor molecules. This is somewhat analogous to coating an insulating nanoparticle with a conductive layer, which allows it to effectively collect electrons and electron holes transported from the positive and negative electrodes and finally inject energy efficiently into the rare earth nanocrystal, causing it to emit light. This approach achieves an energy transfer efficiency of up to 96.7 percent." [Voiceover] Rare earths as a semiconductor material offer superior color purity, service life, and brightness stability compared to OLEDs, or quantum dot light-emitting technology. Scientists say the rare earth applications in LEDs are poised to open a new pathway in next-gen display technology. [Soundbite] Han Sanyang, associate professor, Tsinghua University: "It is highly suitable for flexible electronic devices. Particularly in future applications related to human health or sensing, in fact, in any field involving photoelectric conversion, I believe it holds very broad prospects." [Voiceover] The team's findings were recently published in Nature, the internationally peer reviewed magazine for science and technology research. [Restrictions: No access Chinese mainland]