Researchers maintain LED lighting kills coronavirus

Tel Aviv University (TAU) researchers maintain the coronavirus can be killed efficiently, quickly, and cheaply using ultraviolet (UV) light-emitting diodes (UV-LEDs).

Scientists believe the UV-LED technology would soon be available for private and commercial use, suggesting installation in air conditioning, vacuum, and water systems.

Professor Hadas Mamane, head of the Environmental Engineering Program at TAU’s School of Mechanical Engineering, Iby and Aladar Fleischman Faculty of Engineering, led the study. Its findings were published in the November 2020 issue of the Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology.

“The entire world is currently looking for effective solutions to disinfect the coronavirus,” Mamane said. “The problem is that in order to disinfect a bus, train, sports hall, or plane by chemical spraying, you need physical manpower, and in order for the spraying to be effective, you have to give the chemical time to act on the surface. Disinfection systems based on LED bulbs, however, can be installed in the ventilation system and air conditioner, for example, and sterilize the air sucked in and then emitted into the room.”

Mamane said researchers discovered it is simple to kill the coronavirus using LED bulbs radiating ultraviolet light.

“We killed the viruses using cheaper and more readily available LED bulbs, which consume little energy and do not contain mercury like regular bulbs,” she said. “Our research has commercial and societal implications, given the possibility of using such LED bulbs in all areas of our lives, safely and quickly.”