title: Nonthermal plasma--A tool for decontamination and disinfection.
abstract: By definition, the nonthermal plasma (NTP) is partially ionized gas where the energy is stored mostly in the free electrons and the overall temperature remains low. NTP is widely used for many years in various applications such as low-temperature plasma chemistry, removal of gaseous pollutants, in gas-discharge lamps or surface modification. However, during the last ten years, NTP usage expanded to new biological areas of application like plasma microorganisms' inactivation, ready-to-eat food preparation, biofilm degradation or in healthcare, where it seems to be important for the treatment of cancer cells and in the initiation of apoptosis, prion inactivation, prevention of nosocomial infections or in the therapy of infected wounds. These areas are presented and documented in this paper as a review of representative publications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Measurements, University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague, Czech Republic. Electronic address: vladimir.scholtz@vscht.cz.
authors.forename: Vladimir
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Scholtz
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Jarmila
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pazlarova
authors.affiliation: Department of Computing and Control Engineering, University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Hana
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Souskova
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Measurements, University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Josef
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Khun
authors.affiliation: Institute of Immunology and Microbiology, 1st Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Jaroslav
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Julak
mesh_terms: D003666:Decontamination; D004203:Disinfection; D018857:Food Packaging; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy; D058626:Plasma Gases / Q000494:pharmacology*; D018508:Water Purification
chemical_list: D058626:Plasma Gases
keywords: Biofilm inactivation; Biotechnology application; Disinfection; Food safety; Medical application; Microbial decontamination; Microbicidal effect; Nonthermal plasma; Water cleaning