I-Corps: Airborne and Surface Disinfection Using Narrow Band Ultraviolet Light-Emitting Diodes

I-Corps项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是使用窄带紫外线发光二极管（UV led）开发空气和表面消毒。紫外发射器在空气和表面消毒、生物医学和分析仪器、荧光传感、固化和光疗方面有广泛的应用。传统的紫外线光源含有汞、氙、氩、氘或准分子。由于体积庞大、易碎、价格昂贵、效率低下、寿命有限、有毒，而且只能在少数特定波长发射，所有这些都被认为是不令人满意的。另一种选择是UV LED，它结合了紧凑性和无毒材料成分，较低的功耗，快速的响应时间，较长的寿命，以及整个UV区域的可调发射。此外，纳米线的形状因素是理想的集成光发射器在过滤织物，以增强抗菌和微粒过滤在空气/表面净化和消毒系统。这种纳米线发射器有望为社会带来广泛的效益，包括新技术、社会经济和环境影响以及商业潜力。这个I-Corps项目是基于开发用于空气和表面消毒的高性能窄带UV led。紫外线LED消毒技术旨在阻止室内微生物的传播，否则人们就有被感染的风险。目前常用的消毒剂包括化学喷雾剂、洗手液和沐浴液。这些方法无法实时杀死病毒、细菌、真菌和微生物。这些化学物质通常含有污染物，会引起健康问题。然而，消毒UVC led是一种快速灭活的工具，而且对环境友好。窄带UVC LED的制备步骤如下：1)利用分子束外延技术合成纳米线UVC LED结构；2)在led中集成光带通滤波器，实现窄带led；3)将纳米线UVC led与现有白光led相结合，形成智能消毒照明系统。与彻底改变照明和显示的可见彩色led一样，UVC led可以在空气和表面上提供消毒解决方案。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of airborne and surface disinfection using narrow band ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (UV LEDs). UV emitters have a wide range of applications in airborne and surface disinfection, bio-medical and analytical instrumentation, fluorescence sensing, curing, and phototherapy. The traditional sources of UV lamps contain either mercury, xenon, argon, deuterium, or an excimer. All are considered unsatisfactory as they are bulky, fragile, expensive, low efficiency, have a limited life span, toxic, and only capable of emitting at a few specific wavelengths. Another alternative is the UV LED, which combines compactness with a nontoxic material composition, a lower power consumption, a quick response time, a long lifetime, and tunable emission across the entire UV region. Additionally, the nanowire form factor is ideal for integrating the light-emitter within the filter fabric for enhancing antibacterial and particulate filtration in air/surface purification and disinfection systems. Broad benefits to society including the new technologies, socioeconomic and environmental impacts as well as commercial potential are expected for such nanowire emitters.This I-Corps project is based on the development of high-performance narrow band UV LEDs for airborne and surface disinfection. The disinfection UV LED technology aims at inactivating the spreading of microorganisms living in indoor spaces otherwise people are at risk of infection. The current common disinfectants include chemical sprays and hand and body washing. These approaches fail to kill viruses, bacteria, fungi, and microbes in real time. The chemical substances usually contain contaminants and raise health concerns. Disinfection UVC LEDs, however, are a rapid tool for inactivation, and environmentally friendly. The narrow band UVC LEDs are produced using the following steps: 1) synthesizing nanowire UVC LED structures using molecular beam epitaxy; 2) integrating optical bandpass filters into the LEDs to attain narrow band LEDs; and 3) combining nanowire UVC LEDs with current white-light LEDs to form a smart disinfection lighting-system. Like visible color LEDs that have revolutionized lighting and display, UVC LEDs are set to provide disinfection solutions in both air and on surfaces.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.