Journal of the Korean Physical Society, Vol. 72, No. 10, May 2018, pp.

1174∼1178

Application of 265-nm UVC LED Lighting to Sterilization of Typical Gram

Negative and Positive Bacteria

Yong Wook Lee

School of Electrical Engineering, Pukyong National University, Busan 48513, Korea

Hyung Do Yoon and Jae-Hyoun Park

Nano Materials and Components Research Center,
Korea Electronics Technology Institute, Seongnam 13509, Korea

Uh-Chan Ryu∗
Interdisciplinary Program of LED and Solid State Lighting Engineering,
Pukyong National University, Busan 48513, Korea

(Received 31 December 2017)

UV LED lightings have been displacing conventional UV lamps due to their high efficiency, long
lifetime, etc. A sterilizing lighting was prepared by assembling a UV LED module composed of
265-nm UVC LEDs and a silica lens array with a driver module comprised of a driver IC controlling
pulse width modulation and constant current. The silica lens array was designed and fabricated
to focus UV beam and simultaneously to give a uniform light distribution over specimens. Then
pasteurizing effect of the lighting was analyzed for four kinds of bacteria and one yeast which are
dangerous to people with low immunity. Sterilizing tests on these germs were carried out at the
both exposure distances of 10 and 100 mm for various exposure durations up to 600 s.

PACS numbers: 42.40.MY, 42.62.Be, 85.60.Jb, 82.50.Hp, 95.85.Mt

Keywords: UV LED, UVC, Sterilization, Bacteria, Yeast
DOI: 10.3938/jkps.72.1174

I. INTRODUCTION Especially, researches have been focused on disinfec-

In the electromagnetic radiation, UV ray has wave-
length ranging from 10 to 400 nm and can be divided
into UVA (315 ∼ 400 nm), UVB (280 ∼ 315 nm), and
UVC (100 ∼ 280 nm) or near UV (NUV, 300 ∼ 400 nm),
middle UV (MUV, 200 ∼ 300 nm), and vacuum UV
(VUV, 10 ∼ 200 nm) [1]. So many UV sources have
been developed such as UV fluorescent lamps, mercury
vapor lamps with ionized gases in low, medium and high
pressures, UV excimer lamps, and so on [2–5]. Recently,
UV LEDs have been displacing conventional UV lamps
due to their advantages such as high energy efficiency,
long lifetime, mercury-free contaminants, low power con-
sumption, short standby time, etc. Therefore, UV LED
lightings are alternative candidates for various UV appli-
cations: sources for chemical excitation as used for resin
curing and biotechnology; excitation sources for spec-
troscopy as used for banknote identification and environ-
mental monitoring; sanitary light sources for disinfection
and sterilization [6].
∗ E-mail: ucryu@pknu.ac.kr; Fax: +82-51-629-6865
tion and sterilization using UV LEDs: of UV-A, B, and
C; to pasteurize E. Coli, B. subtilis, phytoplankton, etc.;
to treat waste water and ballast water [7–10]. Studies
have shown that sterilization is most efficient at UVC
because the wavelength range corresponds to the peak
of photic absorption by bacterial deoxyribonucleic acid
(DNA) [11–13]. Nonetheless, to the best of the authors’
knowledge, there have been few experimental investiga-
tions on the sterilization effect of UVC LEDs on the bac-
teria or the microorganisms which are included in the
newest global priority pathogens list (PPL) for R&D of
new antibiotics by WTO [14].
Hence, a sterilization light was developed with 265-nm
UVC LEDs to give uniform beam distribution and the
pasteurizing effect was reported on four kinds of bacteria
and a yeast fungus. The four bacteria, K. pneumoniae,
P. aeruginosa, S. aureu, and S. typhimurium are nom-
inated as the antibiotic resistant bacteria in the PPL,
while C. albicans is a popular yeast in adults. The spec-
imens are dangerous to both younger children less than
5 years and elderly people with low immunity [14, 15].
To increase the sterilization effect, silica lens array was
designed and fabricated.

pISSN:0374-4884/eISSN:1976-8524 -1174- 2018

c The Korean Physical Society
Application of 265-nm UVC LED Lighting to Sterilization of Typical Gram· · · – Yong Wook Lee et al. -1175-

(a) UVC LED module (b) Driver module

(c) Schematic diagram of UV LED lighting (d) Spectral distribution of UVC LED

Fig. 1. (Color online) Configuration of the sterilizing UV LED lighting.

Table 1. Survived strain numbers (CFU/carrier) by exposure durations at the distances from the specimen to the light.
Sterilization rates are expressed in ( ).
PP
PP Exposure
Distance P PP time 0s 30 s 60 s 300 s 600 s
PP
Specimens PP
2.5 × 104 6.2 × 103 < 20 < 20
S. typhimurium 1.2 × 106
(97.92%) (99.48%) (> 99.99%) (> 99.99%)
6.2 × 103 < 20 < 20 < 20
K. pneumoniae 1.8 × 106
(99.66%) (> 99.99%) (> 99.99%) (> 99.99%)
7.2 × 102 < 20 < 20 < 20
10 mm P. aeruginosa 1.0 × 105
(99.28%) (> 99.98%) (> 99.98%) (> 99.98%)
3.6 × 102 < 20 < 20 < 20
S. aureus 4.5 × 105
(99.92%) (> 99.99%) (> 99.99%) (> 99.99%)
2.1 × 103 1.0 × 103 1.2 × 102 20
C. albicans 1.0 × 105
(97.9%) (> 99.0%) (99.88%) (> 99.98%)
1.2 × 105 6.2 × 104 < 20 < 20
S. typhimurium 3.4 × 105
(64.71%) (81.76%) (> 99.99%) (> 99.99%)
7.4 × 103 6.0 × 103 < 20 < 20
K. pneumoniae 2.9 × 106
(99.74%) (99.79%) (> 99.99%) (> 99.99%)
4.8 × 104 3.6 × 102 40 < 20
100 mm P. aeruginosa 5.4 × 106
(99.11%) (99.99%) (99.99%) (> 99.99%)
1.3 × 105 1.8 × 104 60 < 20
S. aureus 8.0 × 106
(98.37%) (99.78%) (99.99%) (> 99.99%)
1.2 × 104 2.6 × 103 7.8 × 102 2.0 × 102
C. albicans 5.6 × 104
(78.57%) (95.36%) (98.61%) (99.64%)
-1176- Journal of the Korean Physical Society, Vol. 72, No. 10, May 2018

PP
PP Exposure
PP
Distance PPtime 0s 30 s 60 s 300 s 600 s
Specimens PP
P

S. typhimurium

K. pneumoniae

10 mm P. aeruginosa

S. aureus

C. albicans

S. typhimurium

K. pneumoniae

100 mm P. aeruginosa

S. aureus

C. albicans

Fig. 2. (Color online) Sterilization test results for the 5 strains over exposure time at the distances of 10 and 100 mm.

II. EXPERIMENTS AND DISCUSSION
For the experiments, a sterilizing UV LED lighting was
fabricated using a UV LED module and a driver module,
as shown in Fig. 1. Figures 1(a) and 1(b) show the UV
LED module and the driver module, respectively. The
former was composed of 40 UVC LEDs and a silica lens
array with diffusing patterns and the latter comprised of
a switching mode power supply and a driver IC for pulse
width modulation (PWM) and constant current control.
Application of 265-nm UVC LED Lighting to Sterilization of Typical Gram· · · – Yong Wook Lee et al.
(a) Sterilization rate at the distance of 10 mm over time
Fig. 3. (Color online) Sterilization rates over exposure times at the distances of (a) 10 mm and (b) 100 mm.
The silica lens array was designed to focus UV beam
and to give a uniform light distribution over specimens,
simultaneously. Figure 1(c) is a schematic diagram of the
lighting showing the detailed information on the driver
module regulating current for multiple output channels
[16]. Figure 1(d) is the spectral power distribution of the
UVC LED peaked at 265 nm.
To test the sterilization effect of the UV LED lighting,
five strains were selected: four antibiotic resistant bac-
teria, that is to say, K. pneumoniae, P. aeruginosa, S.
aureu, and S. typhimurium; one yeast, C. albicans, de-
tected in the gastrointestinal tract and mouth in healthy
adults [14,15]. K. pneumoniae, P. aeruginosa, and S. ty-
phimurium are gram-negative bacteria whose colors are
not changed by the Gram’s method, whereas S. aureu is a
gram-positive bacterium. Initial strain numbers were be-
tween 104 and 106 CFU/carrier, which indicates colony
forming units in a carrier. The exposure distances from
the lighting to the specimens were 10 and 100 mm, and
the carriers were illuminated with the exposure times
of 30 s, 60 s, 300 s, and 600 s. All of these tests of
the sterilization effect were performed at an international
accredited testing laboratory, KTR (Korea Testing and
Research Institute), complying with ISO/IEC 17025.
After every exposure time, the images of the strain
carriers were captured, as shown in Fig. 2. At the expo-
sure distance of 10 mm, most of the strains except from
C. albicans died after 600 s. At 100 mm, the survived
strains of K. pneumoniae, P. aeruginosa, and S. aureu
until 300 s were disinfected after 600 s, on the other hand,
those of C. albicans were not pasteurized even after 600 s.
To summarize the results, the survived strain numbers
and sterilization rates were shown in Table 1. At the ex-
posure distance of 10 mm, 30 s of the UVC exposure re-
sulted in disinfecting more than 99% of K. pneumoniae,
P. aeruginosa, and S. aureu and 97.9% of S. typhimurium
-1177-
(b) Sterilization rate at the distance of 100 mm over time
and C. albicans. After 60 s, above 99.98% of K. pneu-
moniae, P. aeruginosa, and S. aureu and over 99% of
S. typhimurium and C. albicans were extinguished. Af-
ter 300 s, less than 20 CFU/carrier that is more than
99.99% of K. pneumoniae, P. aeruginosa, S. aureu and S.
typhimurium were pasteurized, while the survived num-
bers of C. albicans were estimated to be 20 CFU/carrier.
At the distance of 100 mm, 30 s of the exposure led to dis-
infection of more than 98% of K. pneumoniae, P. aerug-
inosa, and S. aureu, 78.6% of C. albicans, and 64.7%
of S. typhimurium. After 60 s, more than 99.8% of K.
pneumoniae, P. aeruginosa, and S. aureu, 95.4% of C.
albicans, and 81.8% of S. typhimurium were died. After
300 s, more than 99.99% of S. typhimurium, K. pneu-
moniae, P. aeruginosa, and S. aureu were pasteurized.
Even after 600 s, more than 200 CFU/carrier of C. albi-
cans were survived.
Figures 3(a) and 3(b) represent the variation of the
resulting sterilization rate according to the exposure du-
ration at the two exposure distances of 10 and 100 mm,
respectively. On the whole, for the three strains of K.
pneumoniae, P. aeruginosa, and S. aureu, the steriliza-
tion rate rapidly increases with the exposure duration
compared with the other two strains (S. typhimurium
and C. albicans). Moreover, the sterilization rate is in-
versely proportional to the exposure distance, which is
prominent for the strains of S. typhimurium and C. al-
bicans.
III. CONCLUSION
In conclusion, sterilization effect of UVC LED lighting
peaked at 265 nm was analyzed by experiments on four
antibiotic resistant bacteria that is K. pneumoniae, P.
aeruginosa, S. aureu and S. typhimurium, and a yeast,
-1178-
C. albicans. The UV LED lighting was fabricated us-
ing a UV LED module and a driver module, which are
composed of a silica lens array and a driver IC for PWM
control and current regulation, respectively. The steril-
ization rates for the strains of K. pneumoniae, P. aerug-
inosa and S. aureu, were high at the both distances of
10 and 100 mm. While those of S. typhimurium at the
distance of 100 mm and C. albicans at the both distances
were relatively low. This means that S. typhimurium and
C. albicans may need more UVC power or re-designing
lens array for the 100 mm distance or mixing of other
UV band as recommended in other researches [8,9]. As
a result, 265-nm UVC LED lighting is recommendable
for the pasteurizing of K. pneumoniae, P. aeruginosa
and S. aureu and prudent consideration on UV lighting
is needed for the disinfection of S. typhimurium and C.
albicans.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to gratefully acknowledge sup-
port by the Development of R&D Professionals on LED
Convergence Lighting for Shipbuilding/Marine Plant
and Marine Environments (Project No: N0001363)
funded by the Ministry of TRADE, INDUSTRY &
ENERGY (MOTIE, Korea) and by Basic Science Re-
search Program through the National Research Founda-
tion of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Educa-
tion (NRF- 2017R1D1A3B03035090).
Journal of the Korean Physical Society, Vol. 72, No. 10, May 2018
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