Low Temperature Plasma‐Based Sterilization: Overview and State‐of‐the‐Art

Abstract Summary: Low temperature, high pressure, non‐equilibrium plasmas are now routinely used in several material processing applications, and in some cases are competing with low pressure plasmas in areas where these have historically been dominant. Etching and deposition are examples of such applications. Amongst the novel applications of non‐equilibrium plasmas, biomedical applications such as electrosurgery, surface modification of biocompatible materials, and the sterilization of heat‐sensitive medical tools are particularly interesting. In this paper, first a brief overview of recent research on reduced‐pressure plasma‐based sterilization/decontamination methods is given. Then a detailed review and…