LED Inspired by Fireflies

Firefly bug.
(Picture from: http://www.livescience.com/)

Fireflies green-yellow flashes are one of the simplest pleasures of summer. Generations of kids have dreamed of lighting backyards with jars full of them. And someday it may be possible to say you've got a light full of fireflies — or at least a firefly-inspired bulb.

The scientists team from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology make lens of LED (light emitting diode) using the principle of fireflies. In this way, the energy it takes just a little, but the power of the emitted light even brighter.

As quoted by LiveScience, the LED lamp developed lens is engraved small dots, the principle is similar to light fireflies in the back of this insect.

Researcher leader, Ki-Hun Jeong said that they made the new LED lenses, which are nanostructures of firefly lantern. They studied fireflies with abdominal scan under an electron microscope.

Scientists found the lantern in the insect's stomach is made of three layers, the layers that resemble standard LED lights. By copying the structure of three layers of lower abdominal fireflies are, Jeong and colleagues managed to get rid of the expensive components in LED lights.

With this knowledge, they were able to create an artificial version for use as a high-power LED lens. “The nanostructures on an LED lens surface were fabricated by using a large-area nanotemplating and reconfigurable nanomolding with heat-induced shear thinning,” the team wrote. "The biologically inspired LED lens, distinct from a smooth surface lens, substantially increases light transmission over visible ranges, comparable to conventional antireflection coating. This biological inspiration can offer new opportunities for increasing the light extraction efficiency of high-power LED packages." According to the researchers, the technique can be used to increase the light to screen phones, even car lights for residential lighting.

Comparison of conventional LED lens with Bioinspired one.

(Picture from: http://inhabitat.com/)

The inspiration isn't an exact case of borrowing from Mother Nature, as the manmade LED lens is much more regular and ordered than a firefly's behind. The researchers used nanopillars packed into the shape of a honeycomb, rather than the firefly's long ridges. But just like a real firefly, the patterns seemed to work best when the light had a wavelength of 560 nanometers, or the familiar yellow-green glow of a lightning bug.

That doesn't necessarily mean that we'll all be carrying around firefly-colored lanterns. The nanostructures could be tweaked to boost different wavelengths, Jeong said. "Transmittance is very sensitive to the shape of nanostructures,” he added. “The physical dimension can be more optimized for a specific wavelength of light.". *** [LIVESCIENCE | INHABITAT | GI | PIKIRAN RAKYAT 08112012]

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