Researchers work on LEDs that use UV light to kill bacteria

The technology is claimed to have an array of applications ranging from drinking-water treatment to sterilising surgical tools.

‘UV treatment utilising LEDs would be more cost effective, energy efficient and longer lasting,’ said Dr Ramón Collazo, an assistant professor of materials science and engineering at NC State and lead author of a paper describing the research. ‘Our work would also allow for the development of robust and portable water-treatment technologies for use in developing countries.’

According to the university, LEDs utilise aluminum nitride (AlN) as a semiconductor, because the material can handle a lot of power and create light in a wide spectrum of colours, particularly in the UV range.

However, technologies that use AlN LEDs to create UV light are said to have been limited because the substrates that served as the foundation for these semiconductors absorbed wavelengths of UV light that are crucial to applications in sterilisation and water-treatment technologies.

A team of researchers from North Carolina and Japan believes it has developed a solution to the problem.