Beware of UVC sanitizers: not all are good

  1. Justo Arines 1
  2. Carmen Bao-Varela 2
  1. 1 Facultade de Óptica e Optometría, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela
  2. 2 Facultade de Física, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela
Journal:
Óptica pura y aplicada

ISSN: 2171-8814

Year of publication: 2020

Volume: 53

Issue: 3

Type: Article

DOI: 10.7149/OPA.53.3.51044 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openOpen access editor

More publications in: Óptica pura y aplicada

Abstract

Disinfection is now one of the major concerns of society. Soap, or hydroalcohol are two known ways of sanitizing different objects. Now we can find in the market more sophisticated systems, which provide more confidence on their sanitizing effects, or that allows disinfection of objects that cannot be sanitized with soap or hydroalcoholic solutions. In this work we analyze a commercially available sanitizing device that claims the use of UVC radiation. We will show that this device is not suitable for complete disinfection of the objects introduced on the cabin. We provide spectral characterization of the sources, as well as irradiance measurements inside the cabin. We conclude that the cabin cannot be used for sanitizing most of the objects that are included in the documentation of the device.

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Funding information

This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economía y Competitividad FIS2016-77319-C2-1-R, Consellería de Educación Program for Development of a Strategic Grouping in Materials – AeMAT Grant No. ED431E2018/ 08 and Xunta de Galicia ref. ED431B2017/64.

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Data source: Dialnet