Polymerized nanoparticles and nanofibers can be prepared using various processes, such as chemical synthesis, the electrochemical method, electrospinning, ultrasonic irradiation, hard and soft ...templates, seeding polymerization, interfacial polymerization, and plasma polymerization. Among these processes, plasma polymerization and aerosol-through-plasma (A-T-P) processes have versatile advantages, especially due to them being “dry", for the deposition of plasma polymer films and carbon-based materials with functional properties suitable for a wide range of applications, such as electronic and optical devices, protective coatings, and biomedical materials. Furthermore, it is well known that plasma polymers are highly cross-linked, pinhole free, branched, insoluble, and adhere well to most substrates. In order to synthesize the polymer films using the plasma processes, therefore, it is very important to increase the density and electron temperature of plasma during plasma polymerization.
In the last decade, research on cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) has significantly advanced our understanding of the effect of CAP on cancer cells and their potential for cancer treatment. This effect ...is due to the reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS) created by plasma. This has been demonstrated for different cancer cell lines and the first clinical trials showed promising results. In addition, plasma could be combined with other treatments—such as immunotherapy—to boost its anticancer activity. The addition of new research tools to study the response of cancer cells to CAP—such as 3D in vitro, in ovo, and in vivo models and in silico approaches—as well as the use of -OMICS technologies could aid in unravelling the underlying mechanisms of CAP in cancer treatment. In order to progress towards widespread clinical application of CAP, an integrated study of the multidimensional effect of CAP in cancer treatment is essential. In this book, reviews and original research papers are published that provide new insights into the mechanisms of cold atmospheric plasma in cancer treatment, based on in vitro and in vivo experiments, clinical studies, as well as computer modeling.
Atmospheric pressure plasma discharges have grown rapidly in importance in recent decades, due to the ease in handling and operation, plus their eco-friendly applications, for agriculture, food, ...medicine, materials and even the automotive and aerospace industries. In this context, the need for a collection of results based on plasma technologies is justified. Moreover, at the international level, the increased number of projects that translated to publications and patents in the multidisciplinary field of plasma-based technology gives researchers the opportunity to challenge their knowledge and contribute to a new era of green services and products that society demands. Therefore, this book, based on the Special Issue of “Frontiers in Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Technology” in the “Applied Physics” section of the journal Applied Sciences, provides results on some plasma-based methods and technologies for novel and possible future applications of plasmas in life sciences, biomedicine, agriculture, and the automotive industry.This book, entitled “Frontiers in Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Technology”, consists of 8 research articles, 2 review articles and 1 editorial. We know that we are only managing to address a small part of what plasma discharge can be used for, but we hope that the readers will enjoy this book and, therefore, be inspired with new ideas for future research in the field of plasma.
Providing a fundamental introduction to all aspects of modern plasma chemistry, this book describes mechanisms and kinetics of chemical processes in plasma, plasma statistics, thermodynamics, fluid ...mechanics and electrodynamics, as well as all major electric discharges applied in plasma chemistry. Fridman considers most of the major applications of plasma chemistry, from electronics to thermal coatings, from treatment of polymers to fuel conversion and hydrogen production and from plasma metallurgy to plasma medicine. It is helpful to engineers, scientists and students interested in plasma physics, plasma chemistry, plasma engineering and combustion, as well as chemical physics, lasers, energy systems and environmental control. The book contains an extensive database on plasma kinetics and thermodynamics and numerical formulas for practical calculations related to specific plasma-chemical processes and applications. Problems and concept questions are provided, helpful in courses related to plasma, lasers, combustion, chemical kinetics, statistics and thermodynamics, and high-temperature and high-energy fluid mechanics.
Plasma catalysis is gaining increasing interest for various gas conversion applications, such as CO2 conversion into value-added chemicals and fuels, N2 fixation for the synthesis of NH3 or NOx, ...methane conversion into higher hydrocarbons or oxygenates. It is also widely used for air pollution control (e.g., VOC remediation). Plasma catalysis allows thermodynamically difficult reactions to proceed at ambient pressure and temperature, due to activation of the gas molecules by energetic electrons created in the plasma. However, plasma is very reactive but not selective, and thus a catalyst is needed to improve the selectivity.
In spite of the growing interest in plasma catalysis, the underlying mechanisms of the (possible) synergy between plasma and catalyst are not yet fully understood. Indeed, plasma catalysis is quite complicated, as the plasma will affect the catalyst and vice versa. Moreover, due to the reactive plasma environment, the most suitable catalysts will probably be different from thermal catalysts. More research is needed to better understand the plasma–catalyst interactions, in order to further improve the applications.
The application of cold plasma in sterilization of a root canal of a tooth has recently attracted great attention. In this paper, a reliable and user-friendly plasma-jet device, which can generate ...plasma inside the root canal, is reported. The plasma can be touched by bare hands and can be directed manually by a user to place it into root canal for disinfection without causing any painful sensation. When He/O 2 (20%) is used as working gas, the rotational and vibrational temperatures of the plasma are about 300 K and 2700 K, respectively. The peak discharge current is about 10 mA. Preliminary inactivation experiment results show that it can efficiently kill enterococcus faecalis , one of the main types of bacterium causing failure of root-canal treatment in several minutes.
We describe a new technique for the efficient generation of high-energy ions with electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves in multi-ion plasmas. The discussed 'three-ion' scenarios are especially suited ...for strong wave absorption by a very low number of resonant ions. To observe this effect, the plasma composition has to be properly adjusted, as prescribed by theory. We demonstrate the potential of the method on the world-largest plasma magnetic confinement device, JET (Joint European Torus, Culham, UK), and the high-magnetic-field tokamak Alcator C-Mod (Cambridge, USA). The obtained results demonstrate efficient acceleration of 3 He ions to high energies in dedicated hydrogen-deuterium mixtures. Simultaneously, effective plasma heating is observed, as a result of the slowing-down of the fast 3 He ions. The developed technique is not only limited to laboratory plasmas, but can also be applied to explain observations of energetic ions in space-plasma environments, in particular, 3 He-rich solar flares.
Optical generation of compact magnetized plasma structures is studied in the moderate intensity domain. A sub-ns laser beam irradiated snail-shaped targets with the intensity of about 10
W/cm
. With ...a neat optical diagnostics, a sub-megagauss magnetized plasmoid is traced inside the target. On the observed hydrodynamic time scale, the hot plasma formation achieves a theta-pinch-like density and magnetic field distribution, which implodes into the target interior. This simple and elegant plasma magnetization scheme in the moderate-intensity domain is of particular interest for fundamental astrophysical-related studies and for development of future technologies.