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Scientists Create Unbelievably Bright Fluorescent Objects:
New research published today in the scientific journal Chem describes a newly developed material, dubbed SMILES, that can be transformed into a solid, crystalline state with an unusually bright fluorescent glow when seen under ultraviolet light.
[...] The development of solid fluorescent materials represents somewhat of a holy grail for chemists owing to a phenomenon called “quenching.” This happens when fluorescent dyes, after entering into a solid state, get squished together, producing a muted glow. This close proximity causes interference, and the dyes stop behaving as stand-alone ingredients. Sadly, “when putting dyes into solids, they couple together and stop fluorescing—they also change color in unpredictable ways,” said Flood.
To solve this problem, Flood, with the help of co-author Bo Laursen from the University of Copenhagen, took colored dyes and mixed them with a colorless solution containing a star-shaped molecule known as cyanostar. This worked to prevent unwanted interactions between the fluorescent dyes as the formula was transformed into a solid state, allowing the dyes to retain their fluorescent qualities. The solid mixture, a state known as SMILES, or small-molecule ionic isolation lattice, essentially resulted in a lattice-like structure, within which the dyes could remain intact and isolated.
[...] “We allow the process to become foolproof by offering design rules,” he said, adding that the critical breakthrough was to “explore ideas of hierarchical self-assembly, or, how to make solids form regular lattices.” Key to this were the cyanostars, which have no color. As a consequence, “they produce the checkerboard lattice but play no other role than one of isolation,” so in the solid, the dyes “no longer interfere with each other to turn off the fluorescence and change the color,” Flood explained.
A primary application of brighter fluorescent materials would be amusement park "dark rides".
Also at Science Daily and Science Alert.
Journal Reference:
Christopher R. Benson, Laura Kacenauskaite, Katherine L. VanDenburgh, et al. Plug-and-Play Optical Materials from Fluorescent Dyes and Macrocycles. Chem, 2020; 6 (8): 1978 DOI: 10.1016/j.chempr.2020.06.029
(Score: 2) by looorg on Friday August 07 2020, @01:08PM (15 children)
Is amusement park "dark rides" really the primary application? One would think that perhaps there would be better usages for it otherwise it's going to be a fairly small niche market. How about in the paint they use to draw all those white lines on the roads or at airports. A lot bigger market there that might be in the market for something like this, somewhat depending I guess on exactly how bright it gets -- you don't want it so bright that it somehow blinds people.
Also what is "dark rides"? Is that the Tunnel-of-love? There is a reason that is supposed to be dark, or darkish.
(Score: 2) by Unixnut on Friday August 07 2020, @01:30PM (7 children)
Quite, the first thing that came to mind was more efficient fluorescent lighting. LEDs are not ideal for everywhere, and there is a huge legacy of infrastructure using fluorescent lamps. Any improvements in light conversion can result in energy savings across the world, just by replacing lamps as they wear out with ones that are more efficient.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday August 07 2020, @02:22PM
That does sound like an interesting secondary application.
(sarcasm)
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Friday August 07 2020, @04:12PM
I don't think this would work as the lining of a fluorescent tube. It sounds more like something that would be applied to a surface that was later illuminated by light of an appropriate frequency. Probably an opaque surface. You could probably design fluorescent tubes to use it, but that seems unreasonable. I suppose, though, that you could apply it to a wall or ceiling tile and use that, but it seems awkward for ordinary lighting.
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(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Friday August 07 2020, @04:35PM (2 children)
First it was candlelight. Then incandescent. Next was fluorescent. Now LED is king. Is this "solid fluorescent" potentially even more efficient than LED?
How about, more efficient flat screen monitors? The last big efficiency improvement there was the shift from fluorescent backlighting to LED backlighting.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday August 07 2020, @05:45PM
Don't forget the all important: gaslighting
Don't forget OLED flat panels. No back light. Each pixel uses the energy it needs to emit its light. Black pixels use little energy.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Unixnut on Friday August 07 2020, @06:33PM
> First it was candlelight. Then incandescent. Next was fluorescent. Now LED is king. Is this "solid fluorescent" potentially even more efficient than LED?
AFAIK the main loss of efficiency in fluorescent lamps is in the coating that converts UV to visible light, as it isn't a solid, but some kind of powder. Otherwise it is pretty high efficiency, and also capable of large power outputs (LEDs have not reached this in mass production yet, and those that try have huge heatsinks attached, and a shorter lifetime).
So it is not as clear cut. A high efficiency conversion may well make fluorescent lamps competitive with LED in some situations. If this solid can replace the fragile glass and make the lamps less likely to shatter, that is a big win in of itself.
The answer about this specific development, I can't tell you, but it is a tantalising possibility. I am all for multiple competing technologies that have their niche where they shine (pun intended).
> How about, more efficient flat screen monitors? The last big efficiency improvement there was the shift from fluorescent backlighting to LED backlighting.
Well, white LEDs need a coating as well (on a UV LED), so any gains in efficiency in this area may be able to help them too.
It is a very interesting development, either way.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 07 2020, @08:22PM
You are aware that most LED "white" lights are actually just florescent lights with a blue LED to power them (instead of 10,000V running through a tube), right?
(Score: 0, Redundant) by khallow on Saturday August 08 2020, @02:37AM
Or more efficient white LEDs.
(Score: 2, Funny) by nostyle on Friday August 07 2020, @02:15PM (3 children)
Black lights matter.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Friday August 07 2020, @02:22PM (1 child)
That could be very scary tho in the tunnel-of-love. It might be blinding.
(Score: 1) by nostyle on Friday August 07 2020, @02:40PM
I prefer to think of it as the "Luminous UV" tunnel.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 07 2020, @02:45PM
They are not nearly as numerous as the "warm white" ones, though.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday August 07 2020, @02:21PM (2 children)
Dark rides is the generic term for any amusement park ride that takes place in the dark. Generally a lot of black lights with fluorescent painted or otherwise fluorescent items are the primary things you see during the ride.
Even Disney World has a few dark rides. (just springing to mind: Peter Pan (Magic Kingdom), Figment / Imagination (Epcot), Winnie the Pooh (Magic Kingdom).
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 07 2020, @02:37PM (1 child)
Not just rides, there are many dark places in the Disney Happy Family.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday August 07 2020, @05:47PM
Disney
slave workerscast members have some codes for ride service problems.* Code-V is for vomit. Code-White is for something else.*yes, really
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.