A simple atmospheric pressure room-temperature air plasma needle device for biomedical applications

Rather than using noble gas, room air is used as the working gas for an atmospheric pressure room-temperature plasma. The plasma is driven by submicrosecond pulsed directed current voltages. Several current spikes appear periodically for each voltage pulse. The first current spike has a peak value of more than 1.5 A with a pulse width of about 10 ns. Emission spectra show that besides excited OH, O, N2(C–B), and N2+(B–X) emission, excited NO, N2(B–A), H, and even N emission are also observed in the plasma, which indicates that the plasma may be more reactive than that generated by other plasma jet devices. Utilizing the room-temperature plasma, preliminary inactivation experiments show that Enterococcus faecalis can be killed with a treatment time of only several seconds.

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