Articolo in rivista, 2020, ENG, 10.1088/2058-6272/ab8c32

Inactivation of Staphylococcus aureus by the synergistic action of charged and reactive plasma particles

Vassallo Espedito; Pedroni Matteo; Silvetti Tiziana; Morandi Stefano; Brasca Milena

CNR ISTP, Istituto per la Scienza e Tecnologia dei Plasmi, Milano, Italy; CNR ISPA, Istituto di Scienze delle Produzioni Alimentari, Milano, Italy

In this paper, a low-pressure capacitively coupled plasma discharge sustained in an argonoxygen mixture was studied in order to evaluate its properties in terms of inactivation of Staphylococcus aureus. The plasma parameters as electron temperature and plasma density were measured by the Langmuir probe (Ne ? 1015 m-3 , Te ? 1.5 eV), while the neutral atom density was in the range of 1021 m-3 . In the plasma phase, oxygen radicals were taken as reference of the reactive species with antimicrobial activity, and oxygen spectral lines, over a range of plasma process parameters, were investigated by the optical emission spectroscopy. Optimal plasma conditions were found, and a count reduction of 4 log in a few minutes of the bacterium proves the potentiality of an industrial grade plasma reactor as a sterilization agent.

Plasma Science & Technology 22 (8), pp. 085504-1–085504-7

Keywords

Staphylococcus aureus, capacitively coupled plasma, bacteria decontamination

CNR authors

Morandi Stefano, Pedroni Matteo, Vassallo Espedito, Brasca Milena, Silvetti Tiziana

CNR institutes

ISPA – Istituto di scienze delle produzioni alimentari, ISTP – Istituto per la Scienza e Tecnologia dei Plasmi

ID: 423578

Year: 2020

Type: Articolo in rivista

Creation: 2020-06-08 09:40:03.000

Last update: 2022-02-07 17:09:40.000

External IDs

CNR OAI-PMH: oai:it.cnr:prodotti:423578

DOI: 10.1088/2058-6272/ab8c32

Scopus: 2-s2.0-85085604883

ISI Web of Science (WOS): 000537732300001