Exciting news has recently come out of Tohoku University in Japan regarding a new approach to energy-efficient lighting. In recent years, great advances have been made in nanotechnology opening the door to new a wide range of advances ranging from super-strong materials to nanoscale computer components. One of these advances may quite possibly be the future of lighting.
Beyond LEDs: brighter, new energy-saving flat-panel lights based on carbon nanotubes
Kurzweilai.net | October 20, 2014
Scientists from Tohoku University in Japan have developed a new type of energy-efficient flat light source, based on carbon nanotubes, with very low power consumption of around 0.1 Watt-hours of operation — about a hundred times lower than that of an LED.
In the journal Review of Scientific Instruments, the researchers detail the fabrication and optimization of the device, which is based on a phosphor screen and single-walled carbon nanotubes as electrodes in a diode structure.
Think of it as a field of conventional light-bulb tungsten filaments shrunk to microscopic proportions.
The flat plane-emission device employing the highly purified and crystalline SWCNTs has the potential to provide a new approach to lighting in our lifestyle.
Though, this breakthrough out of Japan has the makings of a more efficient light source than Thomas Edison could have ever envisioned, it is not planned for release until 2019 and likely a decade or more off as a viable mass produced light module to replace today’s LED. As we continue to see exponential growth in many science fields such as nano technology, it is hard to imagine what marvels await.
