Graphine inventor Sir Konstantin Novoselov demonstrates a graphene lightbulb. Photo courtesy of the University of Manchester.
A lamp made with graphene, said by its U.K. developers to be the first commercially viable consumer product using the super-strong carbon, is to go on sale later this year, reports the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
The dimmable lamp, containing a filament-shaped LED coated in graphene, was designed at the University of Manchester, where the material was discovered. It is said to cut energy use by 10% and last longer owing to its conductivity.
“The graphene light bulb will use less energy,” Colin Bailey, the university’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor told the BBC. “We expect it to last longer. The manufacturing costs are lower and it uses more and more sustainable components.”
A micro-thin layer of graphene is stronger than steel and it has been dubbed a wonder material because of its potential uses. Graphene was discovered in 2004 by André Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, two Russian-born scientists at the university. The discovery earned them the Nobel Prize for Physics and knighthoods.
The lamp was developed by a Canadian-financed company called Graphene Lighting, one of whose directors is Colin Bailey. Last month the university officially opened the National Graphene Institute, which aims to be the world’s leading centre of graphene research and commercialization.
