Ion wind enhances plasma jets for sterilization, eliminating the need for large gas systems

Low-temperature atmospheric pressure plasma jets can be used for sterilization in food storage and biomedicine. However, these technologies require very large gas carrier equipment, limiting their portability and practical application. By integrating an ion-wind device with a plasma jet device, Zhu et al. scaled down the system and developed a compact, easily transported atmospheric pressure plasma jet.

In the group’s instrument, the ion-wind device ionizes its surrounding air molecules and gathers them together by an applied electric field. The ion wind is transported to the plasma, which is created by a needle-ring discharge apparatus, and the two streams combine, strengthening the plasma jet. This eliminates the need for the massive gas carrier equipment typically required for achieving atmospheric pressure plasma jets, making the system lighter and easier to move.

When applied to Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus bacterial suspensions, the device nearly eradicated the bacteria after 75 seconds. Its two components worked together to enhance the concentration of reactive ions delivered and expand the device’s scope of application, which allowed it to kill bacteria within a large area.

“We have a lot of work to do in the future,” said author Hua Li. “The miniaturization of the power supply and the expansion of the device’s processing range are issues we must consider.”

With these additional modifications, the researchers hope this technology can be adopted in biomedicine to sterilize the human body.

Source: “Plasma-jet sterilization enhanced by ion wind,” by Hongcheng Zhu, Linxiu Jiang, Shouru Xie, Yongrong Jiang, and Hua Li, Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A (2021). The article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1116/6.0000703 .