Characterization and Comparison of Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Sources for Medical and Biological Applications

Plasma devices have been gaining acceptance in the medical field but haven’t yet reached an average consumer. Devices based on surface dielectric barrier discharges (DBD) in air at atmospheric pressure have the advantages of safety, portability, and ease of use and hence have the potential for broad applications and general consumer use. We characterize a single-barrier and a double-barrier DBD plasma source in terms of the production of active species, energy consumption, scalability, and disinfection efficiency. Similarly to other atmospheric pressure plasma sources operating in air, these devices produce higher relative concentrations of ozone at lower power and higher concentrations of reactive nitrogen species at higher operating power. Chemical output combined with plasma characterization provides information that can be used to compare various types of plasma devices. We discuss the feasibility and limitations of this and other approaches to comparing various plasma sources for medical and biological applications.