Company to release graphene-based lamp this year

A lamp with an LED in which graphene is used as a transparent conductor should be on the shelves this year. According to the makers, this is the first consumer product with the much-discussed material. The lamp would not cost more than a traditional LED lamp.

That writes the University of Manchester on its site. The development of the lamp is a product of Graphene Lighting PLC, a spin-out of the British National Graphene Institute. The company thinks that the first lamps can hit the shelves in a few months.

The University of Manchester is very fond of the material: graphene was isolated at the university in 2004 by Andre Geim and Kostya Novoselov, who received the Nobel Prize for it in 2010. The lamp itself looks like the classic incandescent lamp, with the LED having a graphene coating. Unfortunately, the various sources are not clear about the exact operation.

The NGI was only opened last week and cost 61 million pounds, about 83 million euros. The development of the lamp was largely paid for by Canadian investors, but the EU also contributed to the overall research center, FT writes.

Despite the scant information, Tweaker mrtnvnl found the research paper that led to this lamp. Thanks for that!