UV-C LEDs have advanced on a wave of interest in disinfection technology

Advances in ultraviolet C-band (UV-C) LED performance have accelerated in the past five years. Coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic and awareness around touchless disinfection, activity in the germicidal UV space has led to more comparisons between UV-C LEDs and mercury lamps.

One recent debate has been on the wall plug efficiency (WPE) of UV-C LEDs compared to legacy disinfection technology. WPE is the ability of a device to convert energy into light. Some industry stakeholders have proposed that UV-C LED adoption in germicidal UV (GUV) applications will be limited until the devices can match the performance of existing commercial mercury lamps .

The current WPE of UV-C LEDs is in the single digits, with most commercially available UV-C LEDs in the range of 3% to 6% depending on the product . Although WPE is an important metric, it is not the sole measure of progress for this technology. Improved LED efficiency can be achieved at multiple points within the device, commonly categorized as either internal or external efficiency.