Research being done at North Carolina State University will allow the development of energy-efficient LED devices that use ultraviolet (UV) light to kill pathogens such as bacteria and viruses. The technology has a wide array of applications ranging from drinking-water treatment to sterilizing surgical tools.

Researchers found that trace carbon atoms in the substrate of the aluminum nitride semiconductors block key wavelengths of ultraviolet light.

“UV treatment utilizing LEDs would be more cost-effective, energy efficient, and longer lasting,” says Dr. Ramón Collazo, an assistant professor of materials science and engineering at NC State and the 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.”

LEDs utilize aluminum nitride (AlN) as a semiconductor, because the material can handle a lot of power and create light in a wide spectrum of colors, particularly in the UV range. However, technologies that use AlN LEDs to create UV light have been severely limited because the substrates that served as the foundation for these semiconductors absorbed wavelengths of UV light that are crucial to applications in sterilization and water treatment technologies.

Fortunately, a team of researchers from North Carolina and Japan has developed a solution to the problem. Using computer simulation, they determined that trace carbon atoms in the crystalline structure of the AlN substrate were responsible for absorbing most of the relevant UV light. By eliminating the carbon in the substrate, the team was able to significantly improve the amount of UV light that can pass through the substrate at the desired wavelengths.

“Once we identified the problem, it was relatively easy and inexpensive to address,” says Dr. Zlatko Sitar, Kobe Steel Distinguished Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at NC State and co-author of the paper.

Commercial technologies incorporating this research are currently being developed by HexaTech Inc., a spinoff company from NC State.

“This is a problem that’s been around for more than 30 years, and we were able to solve it by integrating advanced computation, materials synthesis and characterization,” says Dr. Doug Irving, assistant professor of materials science and engineering at NC State and co-author of the paper. “I think we’ll see more work in this vein as the Materials Genome Initiative moves forward, and that this approach will accelerate the development of new materials and related technologies.”

The Materials Genome Initiative, which was announced in 2011 as part of President Obama’s Advanced Manufacturing Partnership program, is designed to “double the speed with which we discover, develop, and manufacture new materials” by providing the funding necessary for computational tools, open standards, and databases.

For more information, visit http://news.ncsu.edu/releases/wms-collazo-uv/ .