Department of Physics and Measurements, University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague, Czech Republic.
Division Molecular Microbiology, St. Anna Children's Cancer Research Institute (CCRI), Vienna, Austria.
Sci Rep. 2023 Sep 19;13(1):15479. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-42405-6.
Non-thermal plasma (NTP) is a well-known decontamination tool applicable for a wide range of microorganisms and viruses. Since the recent COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need to decontaminate all daily used items, it is highly desirable to address the applicability of NTP, including its possible harmful effects. To the best of our knowledge, a comprehensive characterization of NTP effects on sensitive materials is still lacking. We investigated the potential damage to common materials of daily use inflicted by air atmospheric NTP generated in Plasmatico v1.0. The materials tested were paper, various metals, and passive and active electronic components modelling sensitive parts of commonly used small electronic devices. The NTP-exposed paper remained fully usable with only slight changes in its properties, such as whitening, pH change, and degree of polymerization. NTP caused mild oxidation of copper, tinned copper, brass, and a very mild oxidation of stainless steel. However, these changes do not affect the normal functionality of these materials. No significant changes were observed for passive electronic components; active components displayed a very slight shift of the measured values observed for the humidity sensor. In conclusion, NTP can be considered a gentle tool suitable for decontamination of various sensitive materials.
非热等离子体（NTP）是一种众所周知的消毒工具，适用于广泛的微生物和病毒。由于最近的 COVID-19 大流行凸显了需要对所有日常使用的物品进行消毒的需求，因此非常需要解决 NTP 的适用性，包括其可能产生的有害影响。据我们所知，对 NTP 对敏感材料的影响进行全面表征仍然缺乏。我们研究了空气大气压 NTP 在 Plasmatico v1.0 中产生时对日常使用的常见材料造成的潜在损害。测试的材料是纸、各种金属以及模拟常用小型电子设备敏感部件的无源和有源电子元件。暴露于 NTP 的纸张仍然可以完全使用，只有轻微的变化，如变白、pH 值变化和聚合度。NTP 导致铜、镀锡铜、黄铜轻微氧化，以及不锈钢非常轻微的氧化。但是，这些变化不会影响这些材料的正常功能。无源电子元件没有观察到明显的变化；对于有源元件，湿度传感器测量值的观察到的非常微小的偏移。总之，NTP 可以被认为是一种温和的工具，适用于各种敏感材料的消毒。
