Cheap, ultra low-power light source runs on just 0.1 Watts

A new low-cost flat panel light source with extremely low power consumption could lead to brighter, cheaper and greener lighting (Photo: Tohoku University)

Researchers at Tohoku University in Japan have developed a new low-cost flat panel light source that could pioneer a new generation of brighter, cheaper and greener lighting devices to rival LEDs.

The device uses arrays of highly conductive carbon nanotubes to deliver evenly-distributed illumination with high efficiency and a power consumption as low as 0.1 Watts – about 100 times lower than that of light-emitting diodes.

LED lights are renowned for their high efficiencies, but the fact that only a fraction of the photons they produce actually ends up illuminating the surrounding environment suggests that there is still much room for improvement. One alternative approach explored by Prof. Norihiro Shimoi and colleagues was to build a structure based on carbon nanotubes, one-atom thick layers of carbon folded into a cylindrical shape.

This state-of-the-art device has a diode-like structure like LEDs but, curiously enough, the way in which it produces light is actually closer to the cathode ray tubes used in the TVs and computer monitors of the past century. Under the influence of a strong electric field, each carbon nanotube acts as a tiny cathode ray tube that releases a high-speed beam of electrons from its tip. These electrons then hit a phospor screen kept under vacuum and, in the process, release a small amount of energy that causes the phospor to glow.

Building the device was a fairly simple, low-cost process. The researchers started by mixing highly crystalline single-walled carbon nanotubes with an organic solvent and a surfactant compound. They then painted the mixture on the cathode and scratched the surface with sandpaper, which allows the electrons to more easily separate from the tip of the nanotubes.

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