Revisiting the Role of Irradiance in the Determination of Sunscreens’ Sun Protection Factor

The efficacy of a sunscreen tends to be associated with its sun protection factor (SPF) value, a figure determined in a test that relies on the independence of the SPF value to both UV radiation dose and irradiance. We probe these assumptions when photoinduced product degradation is present, and we estimate that the theoretical limit for their validity is when the sunfilter active molecule relaxation time is faster than ∼10 ns. While such threshold relaxation time should be compatible with the expected ultrafast relaxation mechanisms of sunfilter molecules (picoseconds), recent research on sunfilter photodynamics has identified the existence of much longer-lived molecular states. Such long lifetimes could compromise sunscreen performance and make the SPF value very different in natural sun irradiance conditions than in the solar simulated conditions typically used in SPF determination tests.