To cite this version:J EhlbeckAbstract. The aim of this article is to provide a survey of plasma sources at atmospheric pressure used for microbicidal treatment. In order to consider the interdisciplinary character of this topic an introduction and definition of basic terms and procedures is given for plasma as well as for microbicidal issues. The list of plasma sources makes no claim to be complete, but to represent the main principles of plasma generation at atmospheric pressure and to give an example of their microbicidal efficiency. The interpretation of the microbicidal results remain difficult due to the non standardized methods uses by different authors and due to the fact that small variations in the set up can change the results dramatically.

Atmospheric pressure plasma jets have a long history of more than 50 years. During this time their design and plasma generation mechanism has been developed and adapted to various fields of applications. This review aims at giving an overview of jet devices by starting with a brief history of their development. This is followed by an overview of commonly used terms and definitions as well as a survey of different classification schemes (e.g. geometry, excition frequency or specific energy input) described in literature. A selective update of new designs and novel research achievments on atmospheric pressure plasma jets published in 2012 or later shows the impressive variety and rapid development of the field. Finally, a brief outlook on the future trends and directions is given.

A novel approach combining experimental and numerical methods for the study of reaction mechanisms in a cold atmospheric Ar plasma jet is introduced. The jet is operated with a shielding gas device that produces a gas curtain of defined composition around the plasma plume. The shielding gas composition is varied from pure N 2 to pure O 2 .The density of metastable argon ( ) Ar 4s, P

Treatment of aqueous liquids by surface‐DBD in atmospheric air resulted in bactericidal activity of the liquid itself. A 7 min treatment of sodium chloride (NaCl) solution and its immediate addition to Escherichia coli resulted in a complete bacteria inactivation (≥7 log) after 15 min exposure time. With a 30 min delay between plasma treatment of liquid and its addition to the bacteria, bactericidal effect was reduced but still detectable. Nitrate (${\rm NO}_{2}^{{-} } $), nitrite (${\rm NO}_{2}^{{-} } $), and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), respectively, as well as strong acidification are detected in plasma treated liquids and can explain this bactericidal activity partially. Combination of 1.5 mg · L−1 ${\rm NO}_{2}^{{-} } $ and 2.5 mg · L−1 H2O2 at pH 3 results in maximum 3.5 log E. coli reduction within 60 min. Plasma diagnostics and liquid analytics are combined with theoretical considerations to focus possible reaction channels of plasma–water interactions. Using FT‐IR, stable molecules like nitrous oxide (N2O), ozone (O3), carbon dioxide (CO2), and traces of nitric acid (HNO3) and/or peroxynitrous acid (ONOOH) were measured. Reactions of these molecules from the plasma/gas phase with the aqueous liquid can result in acidification and generation of H2O2, ${\rm NO}_{2}^{{-} } $, and ${\rm NO}_{3}^{{-} } $ or peroxynitrite (ONOO−), respectively, via reactions which are associated with the occurrence of several more or less stable but biologically active chemical intermediates like ${\rm NO}^{ \bullet } $ or nitrogen dioxide (${\rm NO}_{2}^{ \bullet } $). On the other hand, H2O2, ${\rm NO}_{2}^{{-} } $, and ${\rm NO}_{3}^{{-} } $/ONOO− could serve as starting reaction partners to generate ${\rm NO}^{ \bullet } $, ${\rm HO}^{ \bullet } $, ${\rm NO}_{2}^{ \bullet } $, or hydroxyl radicals (${\rm HOO}^{ \bullet } $) in the liquid.

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