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Updated: Aug 31, 2025

Treating Surfaces with a Cold Atmospheric Pressure Plasma using the COST-Jet
Published on: November 2, 2020
Mask disinfection using atmospheric pressure cold plasma
Ana Sainz-García1, Paula Toledano2, Ignacio Muro-Fraguas1
1Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of La Rioja, C/ San José de Calasanz 31, 26004 Logroño, La Rioja, Spain.
Objectives:
Mask usage has increased over the last few years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in a mask shortage. Furthermore, their prolonged use causes skin problems related to bacterial overgrowth. To overcome these problems, atmospheric pressure cold plasma was studied as an alternative technology for mask disinfection.
Methods:
Different microorganisms (Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus spp.), different gases (nitrogen, argon, and air), plasma power (90-300 W), and treatment times (45 seconds to 5 minutes) were tested.
Results:
The best atmospheric pressure cold plasma treatment was the one generated by nitrogen gas at 300 W and 1.5 minutes. Testing of breathing and filtering performance and microscopic and visual analysis after one and five plasma treatment cycles, highlighted that these treatments did not affect the morphology or functional capacity of the masks.
Conclusion:
Considering the above, we strongly believe that atmospheric pressure cold plasma could be an inexpensive, eco-friendly, and sustainable mask disinfection technology enabling their reusability and solving mask shortage.
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