A schematic of UCLA’s cold atmospheric plasma device that is in operation. Credit: Virz Research Group, UCLA
Using cold weather Plasma Is guaranteed success in preventing the spread of COVID-19.
UCLA researchers believe that the use of plasma could promise significant progress in the fight against the spread of COVID-19.
In The physics of fluidsModeling conducted in June by AIP Publishing showed strain of novel coronavirus on surfaces such as metal, leather, and plastic, with argon-fed, cold atmospheric plasma treatments resulting in less than a second of a second.
The researchers used atmospheric pressure plasma jets with a 3D printer to spray the surfaces they work with. SARS-CoV-2 Cultures. Surfaces include plastic, metal, cardboard and basketball, l, footb, l and baseb leather l leather.
All coronaviruses on six surfaces were killed in less than three minutes using plasma fed by argon, and most viruses were destroyed after 30 seconds. Additional testing has shown that the face mask destroyed the virus at the same time on the cotton.
Novel coronavirus can remain infected on the surface for several hours. Author Richard E. Weirz said the findings show a great potential for the use of plasma in stopping the transmission cycle of the virus.
“This is just the beginning,” Virze said. “We are very confident and have high expectations for plasma in future work. In the future, a lot of answers for the scientific community will come from plasma. “
Plasma is one of the four basic states of matter and can be created by heating a neutral gas or subjected it to a strong electromagnetic field. Relatively new technology, cold atmospheric plasma is an ionized, near-room temperature gas that has proven effective in cancer treatment, wound healing, dentistry, and other medical applications.
The authors performed a similar coronavirus test with helium-fed plasma, but helium was not effective even with five minutes of treatment. The authors believe that this was due to the lower rate of reactive oxygen and reactive nitrogen when using helium-derived gas compared to alcohol.
Zeitong Chen said the authors are creating a compact device that can be widely used to treat coronavirus surfaces from plasma. It’s a safer, healthier option than chemicals or other treatments, he said.
He said, “Everything we use comes from the air. “Air and electricity: This is a very healthy treatment without any side effects.”
The researchers hope that the benefits of plasma, as shown in this study, can be made available to people around the world.
Reference: Zeitong Chen, Gustavo Garcia, Vaithilingaraja Arumugaswamy and Richard Edward Virz 10 November 2020, “For Cold Atmospheric Plasma SARS-CoV-2 Deactivation” The physics of fluids.
DOI: 10.1063 / 5.0031332
