Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, Infections / 04.06.2020
Penn State Discovery Paves Way for Environmentally Friendly Disinfecting UV LED Devices
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Joseph Roth
Graduate Student
Dr. Roman Engel-Herbert PhD
Assoc. Prof. of Materials Science & Engineering, Chemistry and Physics
The Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA 16802
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: UV disinfection is currently a hot topic as there have been many studies on its effectiveness against COVID-19. Typically, this disinfection is done with expensive, mercury containing gas discharge lamps that have major downsides including high power requirements, short lifetimes, and bulky form factors.
Ideally these disinfection devices would be replaced with high performance UV LEDs that are far more energy efficient, long lasting, and compact. Currently the development of these LEDs is limited by a lack of effective UV transparent electrode materials. The introduction of an effective UV transparent electrode will greatly expedite the process of making UV disinfection devices widely available.
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