Carbon
Light Bulbs Make a Comeback
Ever since the days of the late 1800’s, we
have been using light sources that are stimulated by electronic
current (i.e. filament bulbs). The original filaments, made of
carbon, were incased in evacuated bulbs. This produced long
lasting light bulbs, but the carbon was soon replaced by tungsten
filaments. Now, it seems that carbon may have it's comeback through
the use of carbon nanotubes.
In the June issue of Applied Physics Letters (J. Wei and B. Wei,
Appl. Phys. Lett. 84
4869 (2004).), Jinquan Wei and Bingqing Wei reported their
fabrication of a carbon nanotube filament. The group created two
types of nanotube filaments. One filament was made from single
walled nanotubes and the other was made from double walled
nanotubes.  This nano
light bulb is nearly identical to tungsten lightbulbs except in
the material of its filament and in its performance. It turns out
that the nanobulbs only require 3 volts of electricity while
tungsten requires 6 volts. Additionally, when the nanobulb
and tungsten bulb are operated at the same voltage, the nanobulb
produces much more visible light, as much as five times more
irradiance.
The development of nanobulbs promises another everyday application
of nanotechnology, another way nano will be in our households, and
another way nano will infiltrate and change our regular
lifestyles. With the passing of time we will see more and more
household goods made from nanotechnology and as for the nanobulb
reaching your household, in the words of the nanobulb fabricators,
“A household bulb made out of carbon nanotube filaments is
expected in the very near future.”
Image from
Applied
Physics Letters 84, (2004), 4869.
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