Biomedical applications of atmospheric microplasma
Atmospheric microplasma has been intensively studied for use in various applied fields because it can be generated by dielectric-barrier discharge with a discharge gap of only 10-100 mm and a voltage of only approximately 1 kV under atmospheric pressure. A new possible bio-application of plasma, known as “plasma medicine”, is emerging from the work of many researchers throughout the world. One bioapplication or medicinal application of atmospheric microplasma is sterilization. The sterilization of Escherichia coli was confirmed after microplasma treatments using Argon and air as the process gases due to the action of active species generated by microplasma. Emission spectroscopy measurements demonstrated the existence of active species A decrease in the bacteria count of more than six orders of magnitude was observed after sterilization with an air-and-vaporized-ethanol microplasma treatment. Observation with a scanning electron microscope (SEM) indicated that the E. coli had a shrunken shape after the microplasma treatment.