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LUSS: LED-based ultraviolet for safer surfaces

Date: 10.07.2025

Topics: Photonics

Technology acceleration Improving health and safety

LUSS

Following the COVID-19 pandemic there was heightened awareness among the public around cleaning surfaces and stopping the spread of bacteria and viruses.

Door handles, for example, are touched by large numbers of people daily and present opportunities for growth of bacterial colonies. Studies show that up to 14 different colonies of bacteria can live on a single doorknob, each containing over a million bacteria.

The challenge

To eliminate the spread of bacteria, chemical disinfectants must be applied frequently. However, it is impractical to disinfect surfaces after every use, and this creates potentially hazardous waste.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and new funding from Innovate UK, CSA Catapult brought together a small consortium to develop a cost effective, self-contained, safe, and compact LED module as a disinfectant tool that could easily be installed on exposed surfaces and doors.

Double doors with windows, push signs, and safety notices, leading to a medical or laboratory area. - CSA Catapult

The approach

Ultraviolet light emitting diodes (UV-LEDs) have recently become more affordable, efficient, and available in compact packaging, enabling potential use in disinfection systems.

Microlink Devices, as lead industrial partner, with support from WideBlue and the CSA Catapult, embarked on the LUSS (LED based Ultra-Violet exposure for Safe Surfaces) project to develop an automatically self-cleaning door panel, exploiting specific UV light that aimed to kill and prevent the spread of viruses and bacteria.

This would allow surfaces to be disinfected automatically between uses, reducing the need for frequent manual cleaning and reducing transmission.

Wideblue, located in Glasgow, provided bespoke design capabilities, whilst Microlink Devices located in Port Talbot were able to provide expertise in LED lighting. CSA Catapult provided testing capabilities. Demonstrators were installed on doors at each partner location.

The outcome

The project successfully created and demonstrated the technology. CSA Catapult provided informative and useful testing to assess optical emission profiles and estimations of surface covering. As COVID variants continued to emerge, further tests of the scanning and killing effectiveness were needed to prove and demonstrate confidence to the public.

Microlink Devices are investigating potential further funding to raise the TRL (Technology Readiness Level) level of this product and develop it to a place where it can be commercially available.

Key factors that were investigated included:
• Disinfection dose and any potential hazards to the public
• Product sensors
• Pauses of dose
• Viability and efficacy of the UV-C disinfection
• Suitability for other target markets

Award-winning

In 2022, the LUSS project won ‘Best Photonics Application,’ at the Wales Tech Awards.

Creating and safeguarding jobs

The project also created 5 new employment opportunities and safeguarded at least 3 jobs.

Developing alternatives to gases

This project highlighted the benefits of using UV-C led alternatives that are safer than gases and has the possibilities to be used for to other applications and viruses (e.g., MRSA).

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