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Graphene Light Bulbs Coming To Stores Soon

Posted by Soulskill on from the double-as-a-minature-space-elevator dept.

An anonymous reader writes: A light bulb made from graphene — said by its UK developers to be the first commercially viable consumer product using the super-strong carbon — is to go on sale later this year. The dimmable LED bulb with a graphene-coated filament was designed at Manchester University, where the material was discovered in 2004. It is said to cut energy use by 10% and last longer owing to its conductivity. It is expected to be priced lower than current LED bulbs, which cost about £15 (~$22) each.

4 of 169 comments (clear)

  1. LED ... filament? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Huh?

    1. Re:LED ... filament? by itzly · · Score: 4, Informative

      But that's not what they are talking about here. Those "filament" lamps are nothing but a row of LEDs on a strip.

      They're probably talking about this, which has nothing to do with filaments: http://optics.org/news/6/2/6

  2. What they are probably meaning: by queazocotal · · Score: 5, Informative

    http://optics.org/news/6/2/6
    http://www.nature.com/nmat/jou...

    The writer of the original article should be shot, hung, shot, and then boiled.

    It is riddled with so many inaccuracies that it's meaningless.
    '10%' - yes - 10% is mentioned ' Our first devices already exhibit an extrinsic quantum efficiency of nearly 10% and the emission can be tuned over a wide range of frequencies by appropriately choosing and combining 2D semiconductors'
    But going from that to LED efficiency is ridiculous.

    It is comedically ridiculous to claim that it's going to result in products this year.

    It's worth noting that the best existing 'warm white' LEDs bulbs can already produce about twice as much light per watt as compact florescent.
    (if they are made with around double the normal number of LEDs and a more efficient power supply).

  3. Re:okay, but LED bulbs are nowhere near $22/ea by Moridineas · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Hmmm, interesting. I've upgraded almost my entire house to Cree bulbs over the last two years. I had one fixture that had three 40W TW (high CRI) bulbs--the only 40W crees I've used--that were all bought at the same time. Two of the bulbs died within a week of each other--they flicker off and if you tap them will turn back on. I'm assuming some solder or some other connection has weakened. I'm going to try to fix them, but that's neither here nor there.

    I emailed Cree support with a picture of my receipt and a picture of the original packaging (taken at the time I purchased them). Cree immediately offered to Fedex me three new bulbs (including a replacement for the third bulb) and did not even ask for me to send the old bulbs back. I had new bulbs two days later.

    I'm disappointed that the bulbs didn't last that long, but I couldn't ask for any better response out of Cree's support.