Antibacterial flashlight

A plasma flashlight against bacteria has been created

A group of scientists from Australia and China has built a prototype of a portable cold plasma generator that runs on a 12-volt battery and does not require any gas supply or external high-voltage power supply.

The new device is designed to disinfect, for example, hands. The system generates electrical discharges lasting 100 ns and with a repetition frequency of 20 kHz. These discharges create a plasma in ordinary air with a temperature of only 20-23 ° C (and the device is equipped with a fuse that does not allow the temperature to rise higher).

A jet of such plasma does not cause any harm to the skin, but effectively fights bacteria. To test the device, its authors grew an almost 30-micrometer thick film of Enterococcus faecalis bacteria on a substrate. It had 17 layers of microbes, reports Gizmag (Battery-powered plasma flashlight makes short work of bacteria).

Within five minutes of exposure to the device, the plasma penetrated into the lowest layers of this film and successfully inactivated all microorganisms. And for some of their types, the developers of the "flashlight" add, a few tens of seconds of generator operation would be enough.

Details are in the article in the Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics: Inactivation of a 25.5 µm Enterococcus faecalis biofilm by a room-temperature, battery-operated, handheld air plasma jet.

The authors of the device claim that in mass production such a "flashlight" would cost less than $100 (photo X. Pei et al., Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics).

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru06.04.2012