Advancement in Stopping the Spread of COVID-19: Plasma Treatments Rapidly Kill Coronavirus on Surface Areas
A schematic of UCLA’s cold climatic plasma gadget with a picture of it in operation. Credit: Wirz Research Group, UCLA
Utilizing cold climatic plasma promises a breakthrough in stopping the spread of COVID-19
Researchers from UCLA believe using plasma could assure a considerable breakthrough in the fight versus the spread of COVID-19
In Physics of Fluids, by AIP Publishing, modeling conducted in June revealed pressures of the novel coronavirus on surface areas like metal, leather, and plastic were eliminated in as little as 30 seconds of treatment with argon-fed, cold atmospheric plasma.
The scientists used an atmospheric pressure plasma jet they developed with a 3D printer to spray surface areas that were treated with SARS-CoV-2 cultures. The surfaces consisted of plastic, metal, cardboard, and basketball, football, and baseball leather.
The spray using plasma fed by argon killed all the coronavirus on the six surface areas in less than three minutes, and the majority of the infection was ruined after 30 seconds. Extra testing showed the virus was destroyed in similar times on cotton from face masks.
The novel coronavirus can remain transmittable on surfaces for several hours. Author Richard E. Wirz said the findings reveal great potential for the use of plasma in halting the virus’s transmission cycle.
“We are very positive and have very high expectations for plasma in future work.
Plasma is among the 4 fundamental states of matter and can be produced by heating up a neutral gas or subjecting it to a strong electromagnetic field. A fairly new technology, cold climatic plasma is an ionized, near-room-temperature gas that has actually shown efficient in cancer treatments, injury recovery, dentistry, and other medical applications.
The authors ran a similar coronavirus test with helium-fed plasma, but the helium was ineffective, even with treatments approximately five minutes. The authors think this was due to lower rates of reactive oxygen and reactive nitrogen when using helium-fed gas, compared to argon.
Zhitong Chen said the authors are constructing a compact gadget that could be used extensively to deal with surface areas for the coronavirus with plasma. It is a safer, healthier alternative than chemicals or other treatments, he said.
” Everything we utilize originates from the air,” he said. “Air and electrical power: It’s a very healthy treatment with no negative effects.”
The scientists hope the benefits of plasma, like those shown in this study, can be provided to people all over the world.
Referral: “Cold climatic plasma for SARS-CoV-2 inactivation” by Zhitong Chen, Gustavo Garcia, Vaithilingaraja Arumugaswami and Richard Edward Wirz, 10 November 2020, Physics of Fluids
DOI: 10.1063/ 5.0031332
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