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Abstract
The application of germicidal ultraviolet (GUV) lamps has recently attracted increased attention as a measure to mitigate indoor disease transmission. Among the most commonly employed are traditional mercury lamps and krypton-chloride excimer lamps, which emit UV-C light with peak wavelengths of 254 nm (GUV254) and 222 nm (GUV222) respectively. This study investigates volatile organic compound (VOC) surface emissions induced by GUV254 and GUV222 lamps across various surface materials. Near surface proton-transfer-reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometer (PTR-TOF-MS) measurements revealed significantly increased surface emissions during GUV illumination, enhancing emissions with up to >300% for a single compound. In addition to compounds intrinsic to the illuminated surface, GUV light also increased surface off-gassing of externally applied compounds including limonene and 4-oxopentanal (4-OPA). The magnitude of the enhanced surface emissions was found to decrease with the GUV light pathlength resembling the expected decrease of the irradiance. Overall, greater surface emissions were observed for the GUV222 lamp compared to the GUV254 lamp. Conclusively, this study identifies UV-induced surface emissions as a significant contributor to indoor VOCs during GUV lamp application.
Supplementary materials
Title
Supporting Information for Indoor Surface Emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds induced by Germicidal UV (222 and 254 nm) Illumination.
Description
Schematic of the experimental set-up and the inflicted irradiance by the GUV222 lamp (Figure S1), overview of performed experiments (Tables S1), description of the preparation of the surfaces, compound assignment (Table S2), additional volatile organic compound measurements (Figure S2-S4) and ozone measurements (Figure S5).
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