The Fipel, A Major Plastic Light Bulb Breakthrough, Darkens Fluorescent's Future

The strip bulbs are made from plastic and nanomaterials that glow with an electric current, and could be here as early as 2013. Researchers at a North Carolina university have developed a replacement for fluorescent lightbulbs that is flicker-free. The Fipel, or field-induced polymer electroluminescent technology is made from layers of light-emitting polymer with nanomaterials that glow when an electric current is introduced. The light burns brighter than a conventional bulb and is longer-lasting, says its creator. Dr David Carroll, the professor of Physics at Wake Forest University believes that the breakthrough is more significant than OLEDs. "What we've found is a way of creating light rather than heat. Our devices contain no mercury, they contain no caustic chemicals and they don't break as they are not made of glass."Read Full Story