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Biofilm inhibition on surfaces by ultraviolet light side-emitted from optical fibres

Nature Water volume 1, pages 649–657 (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

Bacterial biofilms are problematic wherever water contacts with surfaces. Although germicidal ultraviolet (UV)-C irradiation effectively inactivates microorganisms in flowing water, controlling surface biofilms is challenging due to light delivery limitations within enclosed and flowing water systems. Here, to overcome this, we developed a novel method using UV-C light-emitting diodes connected to side-emitting optical fibres (SEOFs) placed directly on metal surfaces. Targeting mixed-bacterial biofilms from the International Space Station where biofilms threaten critical water systems for astronauts, we successfully inhibited biofilm growth by delivering UV-C light at 265 or 275 nm with an irradiance of >10 µW cm−2 via SEOFs. In contrast, UV-A or UV-B at the same irradiance did not prevent biofilm growth. Energy-efficient intermittent UV-C duty-cycling experiments demonstrated that 10 min of irradiation followed by 50 min of dark time achieved equivalent results to continuous light exposure. Our research highlights the potential of SEOF technologies emitting UV-C light for effectively combating undesired biofilms in water systems.

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Fig. 1: Side emission of UV light from SEOFs.
Fig. 2: Influence of UV wavelength on biofilm growth.
Fig. 3: Intermittent irradiation mitigates biofilm growth.
Fig. 4: The UV-C threshold for biofilm inhibition.
Fig. 5: Relationships between biofilm growth rate and UV wavelength, irradiance and fluence.

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All data are presented in the article and its supplementary information. Source data are provided with this paper.

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Acknowledgements

This work was partially funded by the National Science Foundation Nanosystems Engineering Research Center for Nanotechnology-Enabled Water Treatment (EEC-1449500) and NASA (80NSSC19C0564). We acknowledge the Eyring Materials Center at Arizona State University supported in part by the National Science Foundation (ECCS-1542160). L. Passantino provided technical editing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. NSF Nanosystems Engineering Research Center for Nanotechnology-Enabled Water Treatment, School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

    Zhe Zhao, Nora Shapiro, François Perreault, Bruce Rittmann & Paul Westerhoff

  2. Department of Environment Research, Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology, Goyang-Si, Republic of Korea

    Hojung Rho

  3. Advanced Interdisciplinary Institute of Environment and Ecology, Beijing Normal University, Zhuhai, China

    Li Ling

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  1. Zhe Zhao
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Contributions

Z.Z. and P.W. conceived the study and designed the experiments. F.P. oversaw culturing and guided biological characterization. Z.Z., H.R. and N.S. carried out experiments and associated analytics. Z.Z. and N.S. analysed the data. Z.Z. and P.W. wrote the paper. L.L. and B.R. reviewed data analysis and edited the paper. All authors provided critical feedback and helped shape the research, analysis and paper. P.W. supervised the project.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Paul Westerhoff.

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Competing interests

P.W., Z.Z. and N.S. declare the following competing interests: P.W., Z.Z. and N.S. are authors on a patent application for side-emitting optical fibres; P.W. is co-owner of a company (H2Optic Insights LLC) aiming to commercialize the side-emitting optical fibre technology. The other authors declare no competing interests.

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Nature Water thanks Karl Linden and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Zhao, Z., Rho, H., Shapiro, N. et al. Biofilm inhibition on surfaces by ultraviolet light side-emitted from optical fibres. Nat Water 1, 649–657 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44221-023-00111-7

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