Cold atmospheric plasmas and their different application areas

Cold atmospheric plasmas are partly ionized gases, which consist of electrons, ions, neutrals,
excited atoms/molecules and reactive species. Within the past few years, researchers found out that
cold plasmas are of considerable interest for different application areas - such as hygiene, water
technology, medicine or odor management - due to
1. their ability to very efficiently inactivate bacteria, fungi, viruses and spores
2. their ability to break up odor molecules
3. their variability: cold plasmas and the produced plasma chemistry can be specifically
‘designed’ for different applications.
The presentation at the GSI will give an overview on the properties of cold atmospheric plasmas
focusing especially on the topics:
• hygiene – inactivation of bacteria, fungi, viruses and spores on different surfaces
• water technology – disinfection of drinking water and plasma activation of water for surface
disinfection
• medicine – plasma treatment of chronic infected wounds and skin diseases