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The AngelsJets of plasma can kill the novel coronavirus on surfaces like metal, skin, and plastic in less than 30 seconds, according to a study that suggests plasma could promise a significant breakthrough in the fight against the spread of COVID-19.
Plasma is one of the four fundamental states of matter and can be created by heating a stable gas or subjecting it to a strong electromagnetic field.
Published in the journal Physics of Fluids, the modeling study conducted in June showed that strains of the novel coronavirus on surfaces such as metal, skin and plastic were killed in as little as 30 seconds of treatment with argon-fed cold atmospheric plasma.
Researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in the United States used an atmospheric pressure plasma jet they built with a 3D printer to spray surfaces treated with SARS-CoV-2 crops.
Surfaces included plastic, metal, cardboard and basketball, football and baseball leather.
The spray using argon-fueled plasma killed all of the coronavirus on six surfaces in less than three minutes, and most of the virus was destroyed after 30 seconds.
Further tests showed that the virus was destroyed in similar times on cotton by face masks.
The new coronavirus can remain infectious on surfaces for several hours. According to study author Richard E. Wirz, the findings show great potential for the use of plasma in arresting the virus transmission cycle.
“This is just the beginning. We are very confident and have very high expectations for plasma in future work. In the future, many answers for the scientific community will come from plasma,” Wirz said.
A relatively new technology, cold atmospheric plasma is an ionized gas, close to room temperature, that has been shown to be effective in cancer treatments, wound healing, dentistry and other medical applications.
The researchers ran a similar coronavirus test with helium-fed plasma, but helium was not effective, even with treatments of up to five minutes.
They believe this is due to lower rates of reactive oxygen and reactive nitrogen when using helium fueled gas, compared to argon.
The researchers said they are building a compact device that could be widely used to treat coronavirus surfaces with plasma.
It’s a safer and healthier option than chemicals or other treatments, they said.
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