The plasma of several different gases has shown a sporicidal activity. From these gases, nitrogen gas was most difficult to produce atomic nitrogen radicals. However, these radicals have a high energy, indicating that nitrogen gas plasma could be used to sterilize microorganisms and inactivate endotoxins. The sterilization mechanism of nitrogen gas plasma is the synergistic effect of a high rising-up voltage pulse, UV irradiation and atomic nitrogen radicals. Thus, the target cells were damaged by degradation, which resulted in death. The biological indicator (BI) used in this study was Geobacillus stearothermophilus ATCC 7953 at a population of 1 x 106 CFU/sheet. Sterility assurance was confirmed by using the Bl. Moreover, endotoxins were successfully inactivated. More than 5 log reduction of endotoxins could be attained with 30 minutes of nitrogen gas plasma exposure. Material functionality influenced by nitrogen gas plasma presented a satisfactory result. No deterioration of polymers could be observed by nitrogen gas plasma exposure.
A novel method of hydrogen generation by water electrolysis using ultra-short-pulse power supply is demonstrated. The ultra-short power supply consists of a static induction thyristor (SIThy) and a specific circuit which is called the inductive energy storage (IES) circuit. It was found that by using an ultra-short pulse with the width of 300 ns, electrolysis takes place with a mechanism dominated by electron transfer, which is different from the conventional diffusion limiting process in DC electrolysis.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.