Evaluation of Cylindrical Asymmetric Surface Dielectric Barrier Discharge Actuators for Surface Decontamination and Mixing

In recent years, dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) has been used as an effective means of microbial inactivation. Surface DBDs in particular have exhibited promising results for surface decontamination.
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By utilizing this method in different configurations utilizing its inherent induced body force, plasma species may be impelled onto a chosen surface of variable size. A collection of reactive oxygen species (ROS), reactive nitrogen species (RON), charged ions, and several other particles impinge onto an object to sterilize the surface. A novel geometrical actuator configuration within a cylindrical structure is evaluated in this study to observe whether an increase in mixing is possible. Exposed electrode numbers of 1, 2, 3, and 6 were tested and associated to their respective degree of mixing. The same actuators were then tested on a five-strain mixture of Salmonella enterica subspecies to observe their degree of population reduction. The increase of induced airflow of SDBD actuators with increased numbers of electrodes correlates with increased bacterial inactivation. These results suggest that by improving the particle velocity, airflow mixing tendencies, and plasma volume at the same power inputs results in increased surface decontamination efficiency. For future evaluations, a change in inoculated coverslip placement to different locations is hypothesized to investigate the efficacy of plasma-produced species and optimizing the same for surface decontamination applications.