Disinfection Properties of Conventional White LED Illumination and Their Potential Increase by Violet LEDs for Applications in Medical and Domestic Environments

Abstract

The antimicrobial impact of visible violet and blue light has been known for more than a century but hardly been applied for purposeful pathogen reduction or prevention. The disinfecting properties of wide-spread warm-white and cool-white light emitting diodes (LEDs) are investigated by irradiation of staphylococci with different LEDs and varying doses. Additionally, the combination of a white and a violet LED illumination is examined. Both white LEDs exhibit an antimicrobial effect, which seems to be dominated by the blue parts of the LED emissions. Unfortunately, the antimicrobial effect is weak in realistic illumination applications. Additional violet LEDs can significantly enhance this impact without a large change in human color perception. This allows reasonable applications in certain medical and domestic environments without endangering humans.

Keywords

• antimicrobial
• visible light
• illumination
• white
• violet
• leds
• staphylococci