Flexible thin-layer plasma sterilizer based on polyimide and efficacy evaluation under bending deformation

Cold atmospheric pressure plasma is receiving attention in biomedical treatment for its non-thermal, dry-type, and high-efficiency disinfection effects on bacteria, fungi, and viruses, compared to typical sterilization methods, such as pasteurization, chemical solutions, and ultraviolet radiation. T...

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Veröffentlicht in:Physics of plasmas 2024-07, Vol.31 (7)
Hauptverfasser: Sun, Yu-Hao, Liu, Yuan-Yang, Zhang, Bo, Zhao, Hang, Sun, Ming-Yang, Fan, Lei, Zhang, Guan-Jun
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Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:Cold atmospheric pressure plasma is receiving attention in biomedical treatment for its non-thermal, dry-type, and high-efficiency disinfection effects on bacteria, fungi, and viruses, compared to typical sterilization methods, such as pasteurization, chemical solutions, and ultraviolet radiation. There are great demands of plasma decontamination on the surface of complex 3D objects, with the request of large coverage, convenience, and uniformity, which still remains a challenge for the current plasma devices. In this work, a flexible thin-layer plasma source for sterilization is developed based on a polyimide substrate, and its plasma generation process is characterized by experiment and simulation. The influences of bending deformation are studied and evaluated by electrical waveforms, heat radiation, and ozone production, of which the mechanisms are further explained. Results illustrate that the variation in electron impact ionization induced by different curvatures is the main cause leading to the change in microparticle production, thus affecting the macroscopic properties of plasmas. Activations of the plasma sterilizer for 30 and 120 s reduce both S. aureus and P. aeruginosa on the flat surface by around 2.5 and 5 log colony forming units (CFU). However, the plasma sterilization effect decreases with an extent of about 1 log CFU when treating the curved surface, while being regained after conforming the plasma sterilizer to the curved surface. This kind of plasma generator offers significant flexibility and efficacy, being promising for the treatment of objects with irregular surfaces in future plasma biomedicine and material processing.
ISSN:1070-664X
1089-7674
DOI:10.1063/5.0205582