The UV light and UV sterilization technology is commonly used in our life. But did you know what is UV light and what is UV sterilization?

UV light

Ultraviolet, also called UV, is electromagnetic radiation with wavelength between 10nm-400nm. The radiation is present in sunlight, contributing about 10% of the total electromagnetic radiation output from the Sun. UV light with different wavelength has many different features. It is used in many areas, including chip manufacturing, disinfection, medical industry, photography, printing and dyeing etc..

Ultraviolet A (UVA): Wavelength between 315nm and 400nm. It has high penetrability and can penetrate the atmospheric ozone layer, but the sterilization efficiency is relatively low.

Ultraviolet B (UVB): Wavelength between 280nm and 315nm. It will be absorbed by the ozone layer, but the energy is higher than UVA, which can easily cause sunburn to skin.

Ultraviolet C (UVC): Wavelength between 10nm and 280nm. It is also known as short-wave UV light. It has the highest energy and sterilization efficiency, but lowest penetration rate. Only a small amount of UVC in the sunlight can reach the surface of the earth through ozone layer.

*UVC and more-energetic radiation will generate ozone in the air. It's more powerful in sterilization. This feature is often used in some ultraviolet light sanitizers.

UV Sterilization

Human had used sunshine for drying and sterilizing clothes for decades. At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, people discovered the bactericidal effect of ultraviolet light in sunlight and began research and utilization of ultraviolet sterilization. Until now, UV sterilization applications have become more widespread.

Short-wave ultraviolet (UVC) can directly destroy the DNA and RNA of microbial cells, causing the death of microorganisms (bacteria, viruses). Usually, this processwill be completed in few seconds or minutes. It doesn't require any detergent or solution participation in UV sterilization process, and will not produce any residual when process finished. Because of these characteristics, UV sterilization has become one of the most environmentally friendly and efficient sterilization methods in people's life.

Ultraviolet sterilization is now widely used in medical, industrial, and agricultural areas. In daily life, many safe and practical household disinfection products are popularly used in most families, such as UV bottle sterilizers and UV air purifiers etc..