Tiny Cold Atmospheric Plasma Jet For Biomedical Applications

Conventional plasma jets for biomedical applications tend to have several drawbacks, such as high voltages, high gas delivery, large plasma probe volume, and the formation of discharge within the organ. Therefore, it is challenging to employ these jets inside a living organism's body. Thus, we developed a single-electrode tiny plasma jet and evaluated its use for clinical biomedical applications. We investigated the effect of voltage input and flow rate on the jet length and studied the physical parameters of the plasma jet, including discharge voltage, average gas and subject temperature, and optical emissions via spectroscopy (OES). The interactions between the tiny plasma jet and five subjects (de-ionized (DI) water, metal, cardboard, pork belly, and pork muscle) were studied at distances of 10 mm and 15 mm from the jet nozzle. The results showed that the tiny plasma jet caused no damage or burning of tissues, and the ROS/RNS (reactive oxygen/nitrogen species) intensity increased when the distance was lowered from 15 mm to 10 mm. These initial observations establish the tiny plasma jet device as a potentially useful tool in clinical biomedical applications.