Surface Decontamination by Dielectric Barrier Discharge Plasma

Background: dielectric barrier discharge (dbd), a source of non-thermal plasma, is used in surface decontamination. objective: to study the effect of dbd plasma treatment, we evaluated the effect of plasma exposure time on inactivation of bacillus subtilis. results: applying the dbd plasma to the culture of b. subtilis caused complete sterilization of the surface without any thermal effects. in addition, the inactivated colony-forming units increased as the exposure time rises. conclusion: considering the low temperature and non-destructive features of this method, it seems that this method is applicable for fast sterilization of resistant bacteria and hospital sensitive instruments.