UV-LEDs for Monitoring Dialysis Adequacy

New Ultraviolet (C band: 280 nm - 100 nm) light emitting diodes (UV-C LEDs) have been characterized to evaluate their potential applicability in the development of a simple low-cost optical adequacy sensor for continuous online measurements on spent dialysate. This approach would allow us to avoid the use of bulky and expensive spectrometers in the monitor systems. The reported results could be useful for the system development even if different critical aspects such as LED reliability, mean lifetime, and emitted and transmitted power monitoring should be taken into consideration. Nevertheless, the experimental activity has shown that the system can be implemented with few optical components and that the assembly can be made simple.