Jon Excell

Low cost LED can be ‘applied like paint’

News

Researchers at Florida State University in the US have developed a new highly efficient and low cost light emitting diode that could help spur more widespread adoption of the technology

Zhibin Yu, assistant Professor of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering at the university explained that the technology, which can be dissolved and applied like paint, was developed using a combination of organic and inorganic materials.

Whilst most LED materials require engineers to put four or five layers of material on top of each other to create the desired product or effect Yu’s material only requires one layer.

The discovery, which was reported in the journal Advanced Materials, could potentially help to dramatically reduce the cost of LEDs and therefore speed up widespread adoption of the technology.

“It can potentially revolutionize lighting technology,” said Yu. “In general, the cost of LED lighting has been a big concern thus far. Energy savings have not balanced out high costs. This could change that.”

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, residential LED lighting uses at least 75 percent less energy than regular incandescent lighting.

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