UV radiation between 200 and 300 nanometers can effectively kill a virus and stop it from replicating itself. As of now such devices require an expensive, bulky
mercury-containing gas discharge lamp with a short battery life.
Much more portable, longer lasting, energy efficient, and environmentally friendly UV light emitting diodes can be developed. The necessary LEDs already exist, but the process has been complicated by the fact that electrode materials must also be transparent.
“You have to ensure a sufficient UV light dose to kill all
the viruses,” says Roman Engel-Herbert,
Penn State associate professor of materials science, physics and chemistry, in a
release. “This means you need a high-performance UV LED emitting a high intensity of UV light, which is currently limited by the transparent electrode material being used.”
Attaining transparent electrode materials has already proven difficult for
smartphones and LED lighting, and researchers say it is even harder when it comes to ultraviolet light.
“There is currently no good solution for a
UV-transparent electrode,” explains Joseph Roth, doctoral candidate in Materials Science and Engineering at Penn State. “Right now, the current material solution commonly employed for visible light application is used despite it being too absorbing in the UV range. There is simply no good material choice for a UV-transparent conductor material that has been identified.”
So, the team at Penn State, in collaboration with researchers from the University of Minnesota, decided to seek out a new material with a suitable composition. Right away they zeroed in on a newly discovered class of transparent conductors: a material called
strontium niobate. After obtaining some samples of strontium niobate from Japan, the research team tested the material as a UV transparent conductor.
“We immediately tried to grow these films using the standard film-growth technique widely adopted in industry, called sputtering,” Roth notes.
“We were successful.”
“While our first motivation in developing UV transparent conductors was to build an economic solution
for water disinfection,
we now realize that this breakthrough discovery potentially offers a solution to deactivate COVID-19 in aerosols that might be distributed in HVAC systems of buildings,” he concludes.<!!!!!!!!!!
Woa! All making sense now AQUA water has undoubtedly also discovered this!!!
Strontium Niobate... and the sprays they can be subtly wafted in through the HVAC!!! I've tied together three of our themes! This is the future.
Besides just personal use, UV light devices can conceivably be used to disinfect large public areas like parks, theaters, buses, and subways.
The
study is published in
Physics Communications.