|
Graphene Light Bulb |
The dimmable bulb contains a filament-shaped LED coated in graphene. It was designed at Manchester University, where the material was discovered.
It is said to cut energy use by 10% and last longer owing to its conductivity.
The National Graphene Institute at the university was opened this month.
The light bulb was developed by a Canadian-financed company called Graphene Lighting - one of whose directors is Prof Colin Bailey, deputy vice-chancellor at the University of Manchester.
It is expected to be priced lower than some LED bulbs, which can cost about £15 each.
Based on traditional light bulb design, the use of graphene allows it to conduct electricity and heat more effectively.
Prof Bailey told the BBC: "The graphene light bulb will use less energy. We expect it to last longer. The manufacturing costs are lower and it uses more and more sustainable components."
Planes and cars
The discovery of graphene in 2004 by Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, two Russian-born scientists at the University of Manchester, earned the pair the Nobel Prize for Physics and knighthoods.
A micro-thin layer of graphene is stronger than steel and it has been dubbed a "wonder material" because of its potential uses.
The government has invested £38m in the National Graphene Institute via the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, with an additional £23m provided by the European Regional Development Fund.
Chancellor George Osborne, who opened the site on 20 March, has said he hopes the UK can see off competition from China and South Korea to become a centre of excellence in graphene technology.
More than 35 companies worldwide have already partnered with the university to develop projects.
The race is now on to develop other practical and commercial uses, including lighter but more robust car and aircraft frames and false teeth. The material has already been incorporated into products including tennis rackets and skis.
Source: BBC.com
GRAPHENE - Extraordinary Possible Range
But graphene is different and has caught the eye of the British government - and other governments and companies - precisely because its potential benefits reach into an extraordinary range of areas.
Even if it fails to deliver all that is promised for it in, say, electronics, it might still prove incredibly useful in others such as energy or medicine.
In a paper in Nature last year, Professor Novoselov and his colleagues outlined a "road map" for possible applications of graphene, exploring whether it could become "the next disruptive technology, replacing some of the currently used materials and leading to new markets?"
They acknowledge that many of the material's most exciting characteristics are only achieved with the highest-grade graphene and that industrial-scale techniques for making it have yet to be confirmed.
Still, they argue that a long list of applications is plausible.
Flexible electronic screens may emerge soonest, with the most appealing idea being "e-paper". A working prototype is expected by 2015, according to the Nature study, though the costs are still far too high for any marketable product at the moment.
The authors acknowledge that the established role of silicon will mean that graphene, which is not a semi-conductor, might not play a part in processors till after 2021.
However, they say graphene is so thin that a "paint" could act as a rust protector or an "electronic ink" or be added to advanced composite materials to make them impermeable or conductive or stronger.
It could be used to enhance solar cells and to improve the working life of batteries, though a lot of technological barriers still remain.
As a material highly sensitive to the environment, graphene could act as a sensor with a single device measuring strain, gas, magnetism or pressure.
And its purity and large surface area make it suitable for medical uses too: from aiding drug delivery to building new tissue for regenerative medicine. However, the authors admit that the sheer number of hurdles mean this will not happen before 2030.
They recognize that "established benchmark materials will only be replaced if the properties of graphene, however appealing, can be translated into applications that are sufficiently competitive to justify the cost and disruption of changing…"
In other words, the price and hassle of switching to graphene need to make sense financially.
So, the paper argues, graphene's "full potential will only be realized in novel applications, which are designed specifically with this material in mind…"
What this means is that graphene is something of a gamble: to really make sense, people will have to dream up inventions for it.
The bottom line is that graphene is too good to be ignored and - in some applications - may yet prove to be too good to be true.
Thousands of patents
But a look at the statistics for patents - a key indicator of commercial intent - reveals how many countries and companies are prepared to throw the graphene dice.
From a standing start with the Manchester work in 2004, there are now more than 7,000 patents on graphene, with the largest number - more than 2000 - held by China. Samsung alone holds more than 400.
Massive investments on this scale can turn sour - plenty of promising technologies do flop.
But the greater the level of finance, energy and sheer brainpower devoted to graphene globally, the greater are the chances of exploiting it successfully.
The miracle material will soak up a lot of money but, taking a long view, it's unlikely that much will be wasted.
Source: BBC.com
