Low Power Low Temperature Plasma Devices for Surface Decontamination.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the forefront the need for effective disinfection and treatment for personal, medical, and public preparedness for biological emergencies. Low power (\textasciitilde 1 W) low temperature plasma (LTP) devices that can provide personal and possibly public protection against current and future infections due to their bio active properties (such as reactive radical and non-radical atomic and molecular species, electrons, currents, electric fields, UV, etc.). A surface dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) using a flexible printed circuit design operates in ambient air without any additional gas flow and power density of \textless 0.5 W/cm$^{\mathrm{2}}$. Using E-coli, we demonstrate a 4log$_{\mathrm{10}}$ reduction of the bacterial load on a glass surface in direct contact with the device. An added dramatic improvement of surface disinfection results from a combined action of plasma and a common disinfectant. We discuss the efficacy of other DBD devices operating without a gas flow in ambient air. This research was performed at the Princeton Collaborative Low Temperature Plasma Research Facility (PCRF) at PPPL, and supported by the US DOE under contract DE-AC02-09CH11466.