| AVS 56th International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Plasma Science and Technology | Friday Sessions |
| Session PS-FrM |
| Session: | Plasma Science for Medical and Biological Applications |
| Presenter: | Y. Sakiyama, University of California, Berkeley |
| Authors: | Y. Sakiyama, University of California, Berkeley D.B. Graves, University of California, Berkeley |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Nonthermal atmospheric pressure plasmas have received considerable attention in recent years. One emerging and promising application is the biomedical field. A wide variety of investigators have already demonstrated various biomedical effects of nonthermal plasmas, including sterilization/disinfection, blood coagulation, wound healing, tissue regeneration, etc. 1 The mechanisms of the plasma-biomaterial interaction are however only poorly understood. A central scientific challenge is therefore how to answer the question: “What plasma-generated species or plasma-created electric fields and currents, or any other effects of the plasma, are responsible for the observed biological effects?” Our modeling efforts are motivated by this question.
We have focused on the RF-excited plasma needle at atmospheric pressure and developed fluid models using the finite element method. Our simulation model successfully reproduced various experimental observations. For instance, our two dimensional model demonstrated that the plasma needle operates in two discharge modes: the corona-mode under low power condition and the glow-mode under high power condition. 2 The model showed that the plasma needle discharge strongly depends on the electrical properties of treated materials. 3 Also, we found that the ring-shaped emission pattern observed during bacteria treatment4 was due to back-diffusion of air and Penning ionization and excitation of N2 from He metastables. 5 Furthermore, results from a more complete model including humid air chemistry indicate that plasma-air interaction creates various neutral species via electron impact reactions near the treated materials. Those reactive neutrals (e.g. O, OH, NO) appear to have significant effects in the inactivation processes by the plasma needle.
In this talk, we will briefly review recent progress in biomedical applications of gas plasmas. Then, our modeling results are discussed in detail.
1 G. Fridman et al., Plasma Process. Polym. 5 (2008) 503.
2 Y. Sakiyama and D. B. Graves, J. Phys. D 39 (2006) 3644.
3 Y. Sakiyama and D. B. Graves, J. Phys. D 41 (2008) 095204.
4 J. Goree et al., J. Phys. D 39 (2006) 3479.
5 Y. Sakiyama and D. B. Graves, Plasma Sources Sci. Technol. 18 (2009) 025022.