There's huge potential in research Binghamton University professor Kaiming Ye and his graduate students are conducting, and it all started from trying to preserve PPE for local hospitals. 

"We thought okay, so if we can use UVC to kill the virus then we should be able to use the same technology to clean the masks and allow the hospital, allow the doctors to reuse the masks," said Ye.

Ye saw positive results from the National Science Foundation. So much so, they gave BU a $184,000 grant for their research.

"There's a question in everybody's mind whether they're working environment is safe. So this UV sterilization will provide a solution," said Ye.

The finished product could be costly, but Ye says a mobile station could prove to be just as effective.

"You can bring this UV sterilization mobile UV sterilization system from one room to another room, in other words you don't have to install UV lights in every room," said Ye.

The system could be completed within a matter of months.