Fighting COVID-19 with Non-Thermal Plasma Technology

Abstract

Plasma with its exotic and reactive properties has a great potential towards developing plasma-based technologies to combat COVID-19 virus effectively. Non-Thermal Plasma (NTP) can be created in air/gas/gas mixture at atmospheric or reduced pressures as a very efficient source of active species. Different NTP generation techniques are already established for different applications. The ability of NTP to disrupt the infectiousness of a virus was demonstrated many years back and this technique has been successfully used for cleaning the air, sterilization of microorganisms contaminated surfaces, and potential applications against foodborne microorganisms in food processing & preservation since then. At present, with no vaccine for the COVID-19 pandemic, use of NTP, which have already been proved to inactivate several airborne viruses, scientists are exploring the possibility of whether it could also work against the Novel Coronavirus. The challenges of using non-thermal plasma in the context of the current pandemic may prove difficult because immediate approval for the use of NTP technology, designing and developing devices for treatment as per human needs remain major short-term barriers. However, efforts should continue to develop NTP based technology to combat Coronavirus for long term benefit of mankind.