Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign made the low-cost lamps by treating aluminum foil bought at the grocery store with an acidic bath. The new light source, which is lighter, brighter, and more efficient than incandescent light, is described in the June issue of the Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics.
"We wanted to make this technology as inexpensive as we possibly could," said physicist Gary Eden. "Expensive technology can be interesting, but the opportunity for using it is limited."
The alternative light source developed by Eden and colleagues is built of foil bathed in acid so that its surface is full of tiny holes. The acid also converts the foil into sapphire, a type of aluminum oxide, which creates a robust structure that allows volts to travel across the thin layer of aluminum without breaking it down. The tens of thousands of cavities are filled with gas and wired together, and the whole device is sealed between two pieces of glass or something similar.
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