Hybrid Light Shines Longer With Less Energy

March 17, 2008 -- Researchers in California have developed a hybrid light that is cheaper, longer lasting, more energy efficient and is as bright as traditional light emitting diodes (LEDs).

The technology, which blends traditional LEDs with newer light emitting electrochemical cells (LECs) could eventually be used to make cheap hi-definition televisions and other displays that are flat as film.

"Previous studies of LECs have always had problems with lifetime," said Yan Shao, scientist at the University of California, Santa Barbara and a coauthor on the study which appears in this month's issue of Advanced Materials.

"In our papers, we demonstrated for the first time that organic LECs can have a long lifetime; even longer time than organic LEDs."

Changing fewer bulbs is just the start.

LECs can be cheaply printed into large films instead of manufactured from parts, like LEDs. LEDs dim as they mature while LECs actually get brighter with age.

Eventually the hybrid light will dim, but at about a thousand times slower than a traditional LED.

The hybrid also uses less energy than an LED after about 15 minutes.