Qualitation and Quantitation on Microplasma Jet for Bacteria Inactivation

In this work, a self-made microplasma jet system was used to conduct the qualitation and quantitation of inactivation with Escherichia coli as the target bacteria. The logarithmic concentration and the size of antimicrobial rings served as the evaluation parameters, respectively. The effect of various parameters on inactivation effect was studied. The results showed that the majority of bacteria had been inactivated in 30 s. The inactivation effect enhanced and then weakened with the increase of air flow rate, and receded as the extension of treatment distance. The effect with different carrier gases showed as follows: oxygen > air > nitrogen > argon. Meanwhile, the effect of different components of microplasma was studied in the optimum conditions (The flow rate was 5 L/min; inactivation distance was 2 cm). The results showed that electrically neutral active species was the main factor of inactivation rather than heating effect, ultraviolet radiation and charged particles. Finally the experiments of thallus change proved that microplasma jet had etching effect on cell membrane. It also found that microplasma could degrade organic material like protein. Furthermore, the images of scanning electron microscope (SEM) revealed the change of cell morphology step by step in the whole process of inactivation.