LAUSR

A state-of-the-art solid-state lighting (SSL) device comprises a blue light-emitting device covered with a yellow-emitting phosphor. In a high-power SSL device, thermal stability is an essential requirement for the phosphor because the phosphor is constantly irradiated with high-power blue light, which causes thermal degradation. In this work, a thermally robust phosphor–aluminum composite (PAC) fused with low-melting glass is introduced. The PAC exhibits a high thermal conductivity of 31.6 W m−1 K−1 and the PAC combined with a 4 W blue laser diode (LD) exhibits excellent thermal stability in luminous flux and chromaticity. Furthermore, energy is recycled in the PAC during lighting by coupling to a thermoelectric (TE) module. In the PAC-TE system, the output voltage and current reveal 289 mV and 77 mA, respectively, at an output of 430 lumens under a 4 W blue LD. The results provide a starting point for further research in the composite-material design for energy recycling with high-power white lighting.