During the tests researchers also tracked the amount of viral genome that was present in the air.
Business
Standard : Dangerous airborne
viruses can be rendered harmless on-the-fly when exposed to 'cold
plasma' -- a stream of energetic, charged fragments of air
molecules, scientists have found.
The
team from University of Michigan in the US hope to one day harness
this capability to replace the surgical mask.
The
researchers have measured the virus-killing speed and effectiveness
of nonthermal plasmas -- the ionised, or charged, particles that form
around electrical discharges such as sparks.
A
nonthermal plasma reactor was able to inactivate or remove from the
airstream 99.9 per cent of a test virus, with the vast majority due
to inactivation.
Achieving
these results in a fraction of a second within a stream of air holds
promise for many applications where sterile air supplies are needed.
"The
most difficult disease transmission route to guard against is
airborne because we have relatively little to protect us when we
breathe," said Herek Clack, research associate at University of
Michigan.
To
gauge nonthermal plasmas' effectiveness, researchers pumped a model
virus -- harmless to humans -- into flowing air as it entered a
reactor.
Inside
the reactor, borosilicate glass beads are packed into a cylindrical
shape, or bed. The viruses in the air flow through the spaces between
the beads, and that is where they are inactivated.
"By
passing through the packed bed, pathogens in the air stream are
oxidised by unstable atoms called radicals. What's left is a virus
that has diminished ability to infect cells," Clack said in a
statement.
During
the tests researchers also tracked the amount of viral genome that
was present in the air.
In
this way, researchers were able to determine that more than 99 per
cent of the air sterilising effect was due to inactivating the virus
that was present, with the remainder of the effect due to filtering
the virus from the air stream.
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