UV LED technology has come closer to our daily life for diminishing bacteria and enhancing hygiene. One way to apply the technology could be integrating UV LEDs with public door handles. Two graduate students of the Chinese University in Hong Kong designed the self-sanitizing door handle and was selected as the top 20 in the James Dyson Award in 2019.

Sum Ming Wong and Kin Pong Li, the inventors of the self-sanitizing door handle, were inspired by the SARS outbreak in 2003 when the infection spread out via contact. The door handle was created to prevent contagious disease transmission and improve public health.

(Image: James Dyson Award)

The team used a thin photocatalytic coating activated by UV LED to decompose bacteria on the surface of a substrate. As a consistent UV light source is required, a generator is added to provide stable electricity to light up a UV LED lamp through the motion of opening and closing door. Reflections of light could occur inside a transparent glass door handle to activate coating on the outer surface. In this way, the door handle can sterilize and clean by itself.

Wong and Li said that they aim to commercialize the product and hope the handle can be applied in public areas with higher infection risk such as shopping malls, hotels, hospitals and public bathrooms.