According to a
recent article on
Product Design & Development's website, engineers have discovered a way to create white light LEDs without using the expensive "rare earth elements" that are common in current manufacture.
The new process involves copper iodide, which is a common substance, and the new LEDs can even be tuned to a "warmer" white instead of the cooler color many people associate with LEDs (in contrast to traditional incandescent bulbs). This new development could mean great things for the cost and the environmental friendliness of LED and fluorescent lamps in the future. The team of scientists, led by Jing Li, published their
article on September 12th in the
Journal of the American Chemical Society.