Nanotechnology: A Gentle Introduction to the Next Big Idea

Light Production

In photovoltaics, the aim is to use sunlight to produce chemical or electrical energy. In light emission processes, exactly the opposite happens: either chemical energy or electrical energy is used to produce light. Nature shows many examples of light production such as luminescent bacteria and organisms like fireflies that utilize particular molecular structures to produce light.

Of course electric light and fluorescent lights are common, and have been for nearly a century. In fluorescent lights, molecules are excited by collisions with electrons that pass through the fluorescent tube; these excited molecules then luminesce in exactly the same way that fireflies do. In incandescent lights, a wire is heated to a very high temperature, ...