Graphene and the Thinnest Bulb

Why in news?

• Researchers have created the world’s thinnest light bulb using graphene instead of tungsten as a filament.
• Led by Young Duck Kim, a team of scientists from Columbia, Seoul National University, and Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science have made it possible.

So, what is so special about the new bulb?

• It uses Graphene as a filament. 
• Graphene is an allotrope of carbon and is famous for being stronger than steel and more conductive than copper.
• See below for more info!

• Just like our very own bulbs, when an electric current runs through the filament, it heats up enough to emit light.
• BUT, the visible light from atomically thin graphene is so intense that it is visible even to the naked eye, without any additional magnification.

Benefits:

This graphene light is low cost with a relatively simple structure.

Applications of Graphene bulb:

• It can be used as ‘broadband’ light emitter and can be integrated into chips. 
• This will pave the way towards the realisation of atomically thin, flexible and transparent displays and graphene-based on chip optical communications.

Let's know more about Graphene:

[Source: The Hindu, CNN (for images), Wikipedia]