This year, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to researchers Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura for the development of the blue LED, which later enabled the creation of white LEDs. Let’s understand why this creation was worthy of the award and the importance of LEDs in everyday life.

From red and green LEDs to blue LEDs

LEDs (Light-Emitting Diodes) provide the emission of light when electrons pass through layers of semiconductor material. The light emitted depends on the nature of the material constituting that semiconductor. Some time ago the LEDs had been developed in red and green colors, but to achieve the white LED it was necessary to have a blue component. The merit of the award-winning scientists was precisely to produce this light.

For this, they chose the gallium nitride and after much insistence, from this material, they managed to create quality crystals to obtain the blue LED. Other scientists had already made that attempt, but they gave up because of the technical difficulties.

Finally, in 1990 the Nobel winners with the production of the blue LED reached the white LED, which enabled the use of LEDs for illumination, with much lower energy expenditure than incandescent and fluorescent lamps.

The importance of blue LEDs

White LED lamps emit bright white light and are also energy-efficient and durable. They have been constantly improved and are becoming more and more efficient, with greater luminous flux (measured in lumens) per unit of electric power consumed (measured in watts). The latest record is just over 300 lm/W (lumens per watt), which can be compared to 16 incandescent lamps and close to 70 lm/W of fluorescent lamps.

Knowing that about a quarter of the world’s electricity consumption is used for lighting, LED lamps contribute to saving Earth’s resources. In addition, the consumption of raw material for the production of the lamps is also reduced. That’s because the LED lamps last up to 100,000 hours, while the incandescent lamps only 1000 hours and the fluorescent lamps 10,000 hours.

How about understanding a little more about LED lights with some experiments? Know our products.