How big is the brightness of a bulb that has only atomic thickness?

CnBeta, 130 years ago, Thomas Edison made the world's first commercial bulb with carbon.

Now, from the Columbia University, Seoul National University (SNU), the research team and the Korean standard Science Research Institute, has been in the form of perfect crystallization of the same elements - carbon (Shi Moxi) - made the world's thinnest light bulb.

Although its filament is only one atom thick, its light can still be easily seen by the naked eye.

Professor Young, Duck, Kim and James Hone.

The graphene micro filament attached to the metal electrode, and then hung on the silicon substrate, and the current through the filament is heated to above 2500 degrees Celsius (4500 degrees Fahrenheit), which issued a very bright light.

Researchers have used graphene to produce the thinnest on-chip light source in the world.

James Hone, Professor of mechanical engineering at Columbia University, said:

"We have created the world's thinnest bulb, this new" broadband "light source can be integrated into the chip, and to achieve thin flexible transparent display, and pave the way for atom chip communication based on graphene".

Interestingly, although graphene has such high temperatures, it does not melt a substrate or metal electrode. This is because, when the graphene is heated, its heat is less likely to pass from itself to the point of departure.

As a result, the heat is concentrated and confined to the very central part of the wire, giving off a strong light. Spectroscopic measurements show that the peaks have exceeded expectations, due to a rebound interference between the light emitting filaments and the silicon substrate.

Unlike any common filament, because of the transparency of the material, this phenomenon can only occur on graphene. By changing the distance between the substrate, the researchers were able to adjust their emitted spectra.

Graphene lattices (graphene, lattice) can also emit very efficiently, because their internal forces can maintain excitation levels and allow electrons to flow freely.

That is, just as graphene can emit electrons rapidly in the rising state (elevated, state), it can also efficiently emit photons in the case of electrical heating.

KRISS senior researcher Myung-Ho Bae said:

At highest temperatures, the electron temperature is much higher than the acoustic vibrational modes of graphene lattices. This unique thermal property allows us to heat the suspended graphene to half the temperature of the sun and increase the efficiency of the solid substrate by 1000 times.

At present, researchers are trying to improve these photothermal devices so that they can quickly communicate / break (generate 0 and 1 signals) and apply them to optical communications. Of course, they will also explore ways to incorporate them into flexible materials.

The results of this study are published in the recent journal Nature Nanotechnology.

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