Glass and UV-C, powerful weapons against infectious diseases

Jan Hermans*, (QSIL Nederland BV | The Netherlands)

Glass and UV-C, powerful weapons against infectious diseases

With the COVID-19 pandemic fresh in our memories, we now know the harsh truth that infectious diseases are lurking to strike at our health and lives. They will disrupt our society if left unchecked. An important weapon against infectious diseases is disinfection with UV-C radiation. This disinfection method has numerous advantages over currently used methods such as chlorine, heat treatment, antibiotics, and so on.

UV-C disinfection is based on the destructive power of short-wave UV-C radiation for DNA and RNA, indiscriminately killing all viruses and bacteria by this radiation.

Quartz glass and special glass are typical materials to use in UV-C disinfection applications. Polymers will not work, since they tend to block the radiation and degrade when exposed to UV-C. The glass types to be used need to be specially designed to be functional. Normal container and float glass will block almost all UV-C radiation and nullify its disinfection power. Quartz glass and special glass from QSIL will do the job. Most important to the application will be the transmission in the UV wavelength area. QSIL has the products, technology and equipment to help our partners and customers build effective UV-C disinfection applications. In this way, we help make the world cleaner and safer.

*Speaker