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Organic LED Could Replace Light Bulbs?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the heard-that-before dept.

egrinake writes to mention a BBC article about a 'natural' replacement for lightbulbs. From the article: "The organic light-emitting diode (OLED) emits a brilliant white light when attached to an electricity supply. The material, described in the journal Nature, can be printed in wafer thin sheets that could transform walls, ceilings or even furniture into lights. The OLEDs do not heat up like today's light bulbs and so are far more energy efficient and should last longer."

18 of 254 comments (clear)

  1. Good Idea... by PC-PHIX · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...but a wafer thin sheet of organic material shining above a cartoon character's head is never going to look as good...!

    --
    Optimist: The thumb drive is half empty! Pessimist: The thumb drive is half full...
    1. Re:Good Idea... by Qzukk · · Score: 3, Funny

      How many biomechanical engineers does it take to replace a wafer-thin oled sheet?

      --
      If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
    2. Re:Good Idea... by Julian+Morrison · · Score: 2, Funny

      Q: How many biomechanical engineers does it take to replace a wafer-thin oled sheet?

      A: Only one, but you'd have to put an awful lot of voltage across him to get him to glow properly.

  2. In clothes by Bombula · · Score: 5, Funny
    Once they get this stuff stitched into clothing, it's going to be just about unbearable. As if all the marketing crap of t-shirts wasn't bad enough already, what with our entire culture expressing individuality by paying corporations for the privalege of advertising their products on our bodies, now people are actually going to be lit up like downtown Tokyo. Fan-fuckin-tastic...

    Well, I suppose the Tron Guy is going to have a field day with this stuff, so it's not all gloom and doom...

    --
    A-Bomb
    1. Re:In clothes by Dibblah · · Score: 3, Funny

      Please. Don't do that. At least there's only one tubgirl pic.

    2. Re:In clothes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Actually, there have already been a few designer labels putting lights into clothing. It makes you look like a complete twat, but some fashion victims will wear them anyway because you can push a button and have the designer label light up.

      Seriously. I'm not making it up, a guy I know had a jacket like this that he spent serious amounts of money on. The best part was that he had to stop wearing it because people were constantly just walking up to him and punching him in the chest to make him light up like a christmas tree.

  3. Re:Finally, a use for IPv6 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    So many possibilities... and you'd just end up drawing boobs and penises on it.

  4. It is but wafer thin! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Fuck off, I'm full!

  5. Re:Obvious Safety Application: by Detritus · · Score: 5, Funny

    Some drivers still wouldn't see you, even if you soaked your clothes in gasoline and set them on fire.

    --
    Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
  6. Re:Quick, bury it! by kestasjk · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yeah, you don't want to fuck with the light bulb makers.

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    // MD_Update(&m,buf,j);
  7. Don't Get It Wet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Before this becomes a reality, the scientists need to work out a way to seal the OLEDs from moisture which can contaminate the sensitive material, causing it to no longer work."

    If only they could put it into an airtight package, something small and convenient, maybe a ...bulb... of some kind.

  8. Christmas by Falcon611 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Imagine the Christmas Light competitions with those suckers

  9. Re:This is exactly what I needed... by magores · · Score: 2, Funny

    I need help with the Feng Shui on this...

    If my bedroom features a mirror on the ceiling, a heart-shaped bed that rotates, satin sheets, and a wet bar...

    Which wall becomes the light? East side?

    I wouldn't want to mess this up.

  10. Last scene in 2001 by Hao+Wu · · Score: 2, Funny
    "The material, described in the journal Nature, can be printed in wafer thin sheets that could transform walls, ceilings or even furniture into lights."

    Sounds like Dave Bowman's bedroom in the last few minutes of 2001. (Too bad we can't post pictures here... thanks again "goatse.cx" commies for ruining things.)

    --
    I suggest you read Slashdot
  11. Yeah but by jlebrech · · Score: 5, Funny

    how many OLEDs does it take to replace a lightbulb.

  12. Join PETOM now! by slashmojo · · Score: 2, Funny
    People for the Ethical Treatment of Organic Materials demand for an end to this barbaric electrocution of poor defenceless cute possibly furry glowing organic stuff!!

    Sorry.. I'll go back to my work now..

  13. Re:Obvious Safety Application: by cloudmaster · · Score: 4, Funny

    I think most drivers would notice you setting attempting to set them on fire, whether your clothes wre soaked in gasoline or not. :)

  14. Simple fix: gene-mod bacteria to contain OLEDs by ankhank · · Score: 2, Funny

    Once they figure out how to produce this stuff cheaply, the bacteria will get hold of it and the whole planet will become brilliant.

    Then we'll have to invent artificial darkness to get away from the everpresent glow.