Inactivation of Bacteria by the Plasma Pencil

Abstract

Summary: A device capable of generating a relatively long cold plasma plume has recently been developed. The advantages of this device are: plasma controllability and stability, room temperature and atmospheric pressure operation, and low power consumption. These features are what is required from a plasma source to be used reliably in material processing applications, including the biomedical applications. In this communication we describe the device and we present evidence that it can be used successfully to inactivate Escherechia coli in a targeted fashion. More recent experiments have shown that this device inactivates other bacteria also, but these will be reported in the future.Photograph of a He plasma plume launched out of the plasma pencil.magnified imagePhotograph of a He plasma plume launched out of the plasma pencil.

Single channel atmospheric pressure transporting plasma and plasma stream demultiplexing: physical characterization and application toE. colibacteria inactivation

“…As predicted by prior literature on plasma-based sterilization, the introduction of a small amount of oxygen in the helium flow actually increased the efficacy of the plasma inactivation [45,47].…”

“…Atmospheric pressure plasma jet is one of the most efficient sources for decontamination [45][46][47][48].…”

Low temperature atmospheric pressure plasma sources for microbial decontamination

“…Further examinations were done by cooling the RF electrode with water to decouple the temperature effect and the effect of the discharge itself. This results in a significant increase of about 2 log 10 decontamination for temperatures lower than 100 • C. Laroussi et al (2006) present a plasma pencil designed as shown in figure 9a. The dielectric tube has a 2.5 cm diameter and is 12 cm long, the 2 copper electrodes are separated by a 0.5 − 1 cm gap.…”

Electrical, Thermal and Optical Diagnostics of an Atmospheric Plasma Jet System

“…One of the most widely used APP applicators is the tube design which includes: the plasma jet [4,5], plasma needle [6], plasma pencil [7], and microplasma jet [8]. The plasma operational modes of these tube sources are influenced by their electrode configuration, gas flow rate, gas type, applied power and the distance between the plasma applicator nozzle and treated surface [9][10][11].…”