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Research into fireflies found that micro- and nanostructures in the chitin cuticle covering these creatures' tail-end lantern organs help improve light transmission.
The refractive index of the structured cuticle more closely matches that of the air than smooth chitin does, helping fireflies make stronger beams of light. The structures also reduce internal reflection.
Now a group at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology has used these principles to make a cuticle-inspired, spherical lens to mount over an LED, boosting light transmission. For green wavelengths identical to the original insect's own bioluminescence the scientists have been able to achieve a 60% increase in efficiency and a wider angle of dispersal.
Akhlesh Lakhtakia, who develops biomimetic optics at the Pennsylvania State University, says it should be possible to make the bioinspired OLEDs at industrial scale for use in lighting and displays. But engineers now have to figure out whether the payoff in efficiency with a biomimetic design is worth the extra expense of redesigning how they make TV screens and light bulbs.
Biologically Inspired Organic Light-Emitting Diodes (open, DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.5b05183)
(Score: 4, Funny) by riT-k0MA on Sunday April 24 2016, @07:16AM
You'll never take the... Oh, wait...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 24 2016, @04:01PM
All's shiny cap'n. Not to fret.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 24 2016, @07:19AM
Not gonna happen in 20 years.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by butthurt on Sunday April 24 2016, @09:55AM
I wonder whether the special texture could be mass-produced in a stamping process. process similar to what was used for music CDs [wikipedia.org].
The optical properties of textured surfaces with regular structure have been investigated in regard to solar cells, too. Apparently a "Lambertian [wikipedia.org]" texture is one with random roughness.
http://arxiv.org/pdf/1304.5329.pdf [arxiv.org]
(Score: 2) by Gravis on Sunday April 24 2016, @07:21AM
if they can make your LED lights 60% more efficient, that would have a sizable impact on your overall home power consumption, making it easier to get away from the grid. on the flip side, the world of frivolous electronics would be able to increase its battery life because a huge chunk of the power used on smartphones is used to pump out light from the screen. just think, a smartphone with a battery that lasts two days! just kidding, they'll reduce the size of the battery. ;)
(Score: 2) by SunTzuWarmaster on Sunday April 24 2016, @05:42PM
lol, the real "just kidding" is that they'll increase performance (I bet we can get a video card onto one!). The real requirements for cell phones are:
1 - Battery lasts the whole day (my next call or E-mail might be to get a million dollars but only if I respond within 20 seconds).
2 - Fits in a purse or manly pocket.
3 - Does cool shit.
Power consumption halved? Battery life doubled? Let's add a chip that does nothing but listen for you to talk to it all day! This is gets you to designs like the X8 (http://www.anandtech.com/show/7235/moto-x-review/4), where a whole processor core does NLP and another does contextual awareness.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 24 2016, @09:49AM
Fireflies may not be around much longer:
http://www.firefly.org/how-you-can-help.html [firefly.org]
Missed any secrets these guys may have had:
http://www.petermaas.nl/extinct/lists/insects.htm [petermaas.nl]
(Score: 2) by butthurt on Sunday April 24 2016, @11:00AM
At that site, they say light pollution [firefly.org] may be a factor in the demise of fireflies.
(Score: 1) by Francis on Sunday April 24 2016, @02:37PM
That's sad, we don't have them here and never did, but I remember as a kid visiting the mid-west where they're everywhere. It's not something that you can really understand without seeing them.
(Score: 2) by SomeGuy on Sunday April 24 2016, @01:57PM
Somewhere, there is marketing MBA drooling at the though of making his product's already obnoxiously bright blue LEDs even BRIGHTER.
(Score: 2) by Techwolf on Sunday April 24 2016, @04:43PM
I found the hard way that OLED are bad for you. They suffer from the burn in from the grand old days of CRTs. They also suffer from limited use, making replacement mandatory. Increasing the e-waste.
(Score: 1) by JBanister on Monday April 25 2016, @01:00AM
This could be very nice for low wattage LED indicator lights.