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World Service,05 Mar 2016,26 mins

Gallium and Indium

Elements

Available for over a year

LED lighting, solar power and lasers are just some of the electronics revolutionised by two obscure chemical elements - gallium and indium. Presenter Laurence Knight hears from Mike Simpson of Philips why we will only need to replace our lightbulbs once every two decades. He also travels to Sheffield University where research centre head Jon Heffernan explains what on earth III-V materials are and why making an LED is like baking a pizza. Meanwhile chemistry stalwart Prof Andrea Sella of UCL demonstrates these two metals' surprisingly buttery melt-in-the-mouth properties.

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