The first bioinspired hybrid white-light-emitting diodes (bio-HLEDs) featuring protein cascade coatings are presented. For easy fabrication a new strategy to stabilize proteins in rubber-like material was developed. The synergy between the excellent features of fluorescent proteins and the easily processed rubber produces bio-HLEDs with less than 10% loss in luminous efficiency over 100 hours.

White hybrid light‐emitting diodes (WHLEDs) are considered as a solid approach toward environmentally sustainable lighting sources that meet the “Green Photonics” requirements. Here, WHLEDs with protein‐based down‐converting coatings, i.e., Bio‐WHLEDs, are demonstrated and exhibit worthy white color quality, luminous efficiency, and stability values. The coatings feature a multilayered cascade‐like architecture with thicknesses of 1–3 mm. This limits the efficiency due to the low optical transmittance. Thus, submillimeter coatings, where the location of the proteins is well‐defined, are highly desired. It is in this context where the thrust of this work sets in. Here, a straightforward way to design microstructured single‐layer coatings, in which the proteins are placed at our command by using 3D printing, is presented. Based on comprehensive spectroscopic and rheological investigations, the optimization of the matrix and the plotting to prepare different micropatterns, i.e., lines, open‐grids, and closed‐grids, is rationalized. The latter are applied to prepare Bio‐WHLEDs with ≈5‐fold enhancement of the luminous efficiency compared to the reference devices with a cascade‐like coating, without losing stability and color quality. As such, this work shows a new route to exploit proteins for optoelectronics, setting a new avenue of research into the emerging field of Bio‐WHLEDs.

Herein, we provide a new easy-to-do protocol for preparing luminescent rubber-like materials based on a wide palette of compounds, such as small-molecules, quantum dots, polymers, and coordination complexes. The combination of this new protocol with that for preparing similar rubbers based on fluorescent proteins states the universal character of our approach. This is further assessed by using comprehensive spectroscopic and rheological investigations.Furthermore, the novel luminescent rubbers are applied as downconverting packing systems to develop white hybrid light-emitting diodes (WHLEDs), which are heralded as a solid alternative to achieve energy-saving, solid-state, and white-emitting sources in the coming future. As such, the current work also provides a clear prospect of this emerging lighting technology by means of a direct comparison among WHLEDs fabricated with all the above-mentioned down-converting systems. Here, the use of rubbers based on coordination complexes outperforms the others in terms of both luminous efficiency and colour quality with an unprecedented stability superior to 1000 h under continuous operation conditions. This represents an order of magnitude enhancement compared to the state-of-the-art WHLEDs, while keeping luminous efficiencies of around 100 lm W À1 .

We present the optical, electrochemical, and electrochromic properties of Fe(ii)-, Co(ii)- and Ru(ii)-based metallo-supramolecular polymers (MEPEs) self-assembled from rigid, π-conjugated bis-terpyridines with different numbers of pyridine linkers.