With a porosity of 99.99%, it consists practically only of air and is therefore one of the lightest materials in the world: aerobornitride is the name of the material developed by an international research team led by Kiel University. Based on a boron-nitrogen compound, they developed a three-dimensional nanostructure that scatters light very strongly and hardly absorbs it. When irradiated with a laser, the material emits uniform illumination which, depending on the type of laser, is much more efficient and powerful than LED light. Laser light could be used to make lamps for car headlights, projectors or room lighting smaller and brighter in the future. The project is part of the Europe-wide research initiative "Graphene Flagship", which involves a total of around 150 research groups from science and industry in 23 countries.
In research and industry, laser light has long been seen as the "next generation" of light sources that could even surpass LEDs in terms of efficiency. Compared to LEDs, the same amount of light could be obtained with a laser structure that is one thousandth smaller. Nevertheless, laser lamps have not yet been able to establish themselves for various reasons.
The research team at Kiel University has now developed a highly scattering nanostructure made of boron nitride, also known as "white graphene", which absorbs extremely little light. It consists of a filigree network of countless fine hollow tubes measuring just a few micrometers. When a laser beam hits it, it is scattered extremely strongly inside the structure and a homogeneous light is emitted. The material acts almost like an artificial fog, producing a uniform, pleasant light. The nanostructure not only ensures that the material can withstand the intense laser light, but can also scatter different wavelengths. Red, green and blue laser light can thus be mixed to create targeted color effects in addition to normal white, for example for use in innovative room lighting. Extremely lightweight laser diodes could lead to completely new design concepts in the future. The research team is now looking for industrial partners to take the step from laboratory to application. The Kiel researchers are now able to use their method of developing highly porous nanostructures for different base materials, including graphene and graphite as well as boron nitride. In this way, more and more new, lightweight materials are being created, the "aeromaterials", which enable particularly innovative applications.
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