Plasma Based Sterilization: Overview and the Stepwise Inactivation Process of Microbial by Non-thermal Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Jet

The microbial inactivation/sterilization is an important part of our daily healthy life. This paper presents the overview on the sterilization process. Comparing the effectiveness of the sterilization agents it has been found that the short High Electric Field [HEF] pulse is the most efficient inactivation agent. This HEF pulse creates pores on the cell surface and kills the cell. Electroporation plays an important role in the inactivation of the biological cell or killing of the cell and spore. The active chemical species produced in the propagation phase of the plasma jet are considered to be the basic inactivation agent for plasma based sterilization. Along with the emission intensity of the active chemical species in the plasma jet, maximum electric field of the plasma jet has been estimated in this paper and is around 84 kV/cm. A new inactivation agent, the electric field strength of the plasma jet is proposed for the first time in this paper. It has been shown that the electric field produced in the plasma bullet is sufficient enough to have an adverse effect on the cell exposed to plasma bullet and is the main inactivation agent of plasma based inactivation. Stepwise inactivation process is described. Index Term— Plasma medicine, Non-thermal plasma jet application, electroporation, electric field strength PACS: 52