Scientific publications

An Emerging Innovative UV Disinfection Technology (Part II): Virucide Activity on SARS-CoV-2

By Gabriele Messina, Alessandro Della Camera, Pietro Ferraro, Davide Amodeo, Alessio Corazza, Nicola Nante, and Gabriele Cevenini

The coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has become a global health burden. Surface sanitation is one of the key points to reducing the risk of transmission in healthcare and other public spaces. UVC light is already used in hospital and laboratory infection control, and some recent studies have shown its effectiveness on SARS-CoV-2. An innovative UV chip technology, described in Part I of this study, has recently appeared to overcome the limits of old lamps and is proposed as a valid alternative to LEDs. This study was designed to test a device's virucidal activity on SARS-CoV-2 based on the new UV chip technology. Via an initial concentration of virus suspension of 107.2 TCID50/mL, the tests revealed a viral charge reduction of more than 99.9% after 3 min; the maximum detectable attenuation value of Log10 = 5.7 was measured at 10 min of UV exposure.

Bright Future of Deep-Ultraviolet Photonics: Emerging UVC Chip-Scale Light-Source Technology Platforms, Benchmarking, Challenges, and Outlook for UV Disinfection

By Vijay Kumar Sharma and Hilmi Volkan Demir

In the perspective article, the scientists compare competing UV technologies with a particular focus on PureFize^®, which they refer to as a Cathodoluminescent Device, or CL DUV. They report that CL DUV chips generate a broad spectrum, fully overlapping with the germicidal UVC range, and can be tuned to peak in the spectral band of 260–265 nm. They allow complete design freedom, and the chip's performance “remains similar under different temperature conditions (−20 to 80°C), which will be useful for various applications requiring operation at extreme temperatures or a large variation of temperature during operation”.

The scientists also state that CL-based DUV chips possess an exceptional germicidal performance level of log6 (99.9999%) as opposed to log3 (99.9%) level for germicidal efficiency of UVC LEDs. They conclude that these light sources are a rapidly emerging field, giving tough competition to UVC LEDs.

”Especially for the 240–270 nm wavelength, currently the (…) DUV chips have the edge over the UVC LEDs and offer higher performance as of now”.

Analysis of the physical and microbiocidal characteristics of an emerging and innovative UV disinfection technology

By Gabriele Messina, Davide Amodeo, Alessio Corazza, Nicola Nante, Gabriele Cevenini

The study compares the PureFize UV chip and a classical LED, commonly used for disinfection purposes, and highlights the benefits and disadvantages of using PureFize broadband UV technology.

The research team proved that the PureFize UV chip exhibits unique properties that make it applicable in some specific contexts where UV-C LEDs present the most critical issues. PureFize is virtually unaffected by changes in ambient temperature and is particularly useful in short-distance applications. Moreover, it is portable and exhibits a broad spectrum of UV wavelengths with a peak where the maximum microbiocidal efficacy occurs.