Abstract
Application desired functionality as well as operation expenses of cold atmospheric pressure plasma (CAP) devices scale with properties like gas selection. The present contribution provides a comparative investigation for a CAP system operated in argon or helium at different operation voltages and distance to the surface. Comparison of power dissipation, electrical field strength and optical emission spectroscopy from vacuum ultraviolet over visible up to near infrared ((V)UV-VIS-NIR) spectral range is carried out. This study is extended to safety relevant investigation of patient leakage current, induced surface temperature and species density for ozone (O3) and nitrogen oxides (NOx). It is found that in identical operation conditions (applied voltage, distance to surface and gas flow rate) the dissipated plasma power is about equal (up to 10 W), but the electrical field strength differs, having peak values of 320 kV/m for Ar and up to 300 kV/m for He. However, only for Ar CAP could we measure O3 up to 2 ppm and NOx up to 7 ppm. The surface temperature and leakage values of both systems showed different slopes, with the biggest surprise being a constant leakage current over distance for argon. These findings may open a new direction in the plasma source development for Plasma Medicine.
Highlights
Cold atmospheric pressure plasma (CAP) sources are rapidly gaining importance as tools for material processing worldwide, since they are easy to use, technologically simple and environmentally friendly
This study is extended to safety relevant investigation of patient leakage current, induced surface temperature and species density for ozone (O3) and nitrogen oxides (NOx)
cold atmospheric pressure plasma (CAP)’s are nowadays versatile tools involved in many applications, starting from basic surface cleaning to Plasma Medicine [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16]; plasma for environment, gas conversion and agriculture [17,18,19,20]; plasma for plastics and textiles [21]; plasma for optics and glass [22]; and the future for plasma science and technology [23,24,25]; plasma for aerospace and automotive [26,27,28]
Summary
Cold atmospheric pressure plasma (CAP) sources are rapidly gaining importance as tools for material processing worldwide, since they are easy to use, technologically simple and environmentally friendly. Applications of these plasmas include: surface modification and deposition, plasma-based synthesis of bio-medical surfaces, decontamination and sterilization, oncotherapy and wound healing. While a close contact treatment produces a conductive operation with the plasma visibly interacting with the surface, at higher distances, the interaction is separated and a non-conductive mode is established While both modes produce a significant level of reactive species, the composition of species as well as the efficiency of the device change. The literature presents a variety of e.g., plasma jet devices, while some operate in argon and others in helium with no clear comparison between both
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