New Phosphors In Bulbs Could Drive Down Reliance On Rare-Earth Elements

The development of new phosphors in traditional fluorescent bulbs could help reduce the amount of rare-earth elements that are required for this kind of lighting – important since it’s apparently unlikely that LED panel lighting will replace traditional bulbs for at least another ten years.

According to Gizmag, researchers from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, General Electric and the Critical Materials Institute at Ames Laboratory have been working on creating alternative phosphors that can reduce or eliminate two out of the five rare-earth elements used – yttrium oxide, europium, terbium, cerium and lanthanum.

“The new phosphors include manganese-doped nitrides with zero per cent rare earth in its composition and terbium-doped phosphates with reduction critical rare earth content to about 20 per cent of what it is in the standard phosphor,” Nerine Cherepy, lead researcher from Lawrence Livermore Labs, said.

If you’re yet to invest in LED lights at work or at home, now could well be the time to do so. There are many benefits from taking such action, such as the fact that LED panels and lights last a lot longer than fluorescent bulbs. For businesses, this is a clear advantage since it means they won’t need replacing as much and can help you to keep costs down.

Furthermore, they’re a lot brighter than other products you can buy and they’re also a lot greener, since there’s almost no pollution created during manufacturing, they have no mercury within them and they’re easy to recycle.

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