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

这个I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/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。UV发射器在空气和表面消毒、生物医学和分析仪器、荧光传感、固化和光疗中具有广泛的应用。紫外线灯的传统光源包含汞、氙、氩、氘或受激准分子。所有这些都被认为是不令人满意的，因为它们体积庞大，易碎，昂贵，效率低，寿命有限，有毒，并且只能在少数特定波长下发射。另一种替代方案是UV LED，其将紧凑性与无毒材料成分、较低功耗、快速响应时间、长寿命和整个UV区域的可调谐发射相结合。此外，纳米线形状因子非常适合将光发射器集成到过滤织物中，以增强空气/表面净化和消毒系统中的抗菌和颗粒过滤。这种纳米线发射器有望为社会带来广泛的利益，包括新技术、社会经济和环境影响以及商业潜力。I-Corps项目的基础是开发用于空气和表面消毒的高性能窄带紫外线LED。紫外线LED消毒技术的目的是灭活生活在室内空间的微生物的传播，否则人们有感染的风险。目前常用的消毒剂包括化学喷雾剂和洗手和身体清洗剂。这些方法不能真实的杀死病毒、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是用于灭活的快速工具，并且是环境友好的。窄带UVC LED使用以下步骤生产：1）使用分子束外延合成纳米线UVC LED结构; 2）将光学带通滤波器集成到LED中以获得窄带LED;以及3）将纳米线UVC LED与当前白光LED组合以形成智能消毒照明系统。与革新了照明和显示的可见光彩色LED一样，UVC LED也可提供空气和物体表面的消毒解决方案。该奖项反映了NSF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.