Non-Thermal Plasma Sources Based on Cometary and Point-to-Ring Discharges

A non-thermal plasma (NTP) is a promising tool against the development of bacterial, viral, and fungal diseases. The recently revealed development of microbial resistance to traditional drugs has increased interest in the use of NTPs. We have studied and compared the physical and microbicidal properties of two types of NTP sources based on a cometary discharge in the point-to-point electrode configuration and a corona discharge in the point-to-ring electrode configuration. The electrical and emission properties of both discharges are reported. The microbicidal effect of NTP sources was tested on three strains of the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus (including the methicillin-resistant strain), the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the yeast Candida albicans, and the micromycete Trichophyton interdigitale. In general, the cometary discharge is a less stable source of NTP and mostly forms smaller but more rapidly emerging inhibition zones on agar plates. Due to the point-to-ring electrode configuration, the second type of discharge has higher stability and provides larger affected but often not completely inhibited zones. However, after 60 min of exposure, the NTP sources based on the cometary and point-to-ring discharges showed a similar microbicidal effect for bacteria and an individual effect for microscopic fungi.

Mimicking relative continuum measurements by electrode data in two-dimensional electrical impedance tomography

This paper introduces a constructive method for approximating relative continuum measurements in two-dimensional electrical impedance tomography based on data originating from either the point electrode model or the complete electrode model. The upper bounds for the corresponding approximation errors explicitly depend on the number (and size) of the employed electrodes as well as on the regularity of the continuum current that is mimicked. In particular, if the input current and the object boundary are infinitely smooth, the discrepancy associated with the point electrode model converges to zero faster than any negative power of the number of electrodes. The results are first proven for the unit disk via trigonometric interpolation and quadrature rules, and they are subsequently extended to more general domains with the help of conformal mappings.

THE ROLE OF COUNTER ANIONS IN ANTICORROSIVE PROPERTIES OF SILICA-POLYPYRROLE COMPOSITE

Silica/Polypyrrole (SiO2/PPy) composites were synthesized in the presence of different counter anions as oxalate (Ox), benzoat (Bz) and dodecyl-sulfate (DoS). The morphology and properties of composites were characterized by FTIR, EDX, SEM, TGA and CV method through the two-point-electrode. The synthesized composites were loaded in polyvinylbutyral (PVB) to develop coating for mild steel substrates. A comparative study of the corrosion protection efficiency of carbon steel coated with PVB and PVB containing composites was evaluated by measurement of open circuit potential (OCP), Tafel polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). It was found that SiO2/PPyOx could provide much better protection, with the lowest current density (4.81×10-8 A.cm-2 and highest impedance modulus (6.25×10-8 Ω.cm-2) when compared with SiO2/PPyDoS and SiO2/PPyBz due to the small size and inhibitive ability of oxalate anion.

Cell Fragmentation and Permeabilization by a 1 ns Pulse Driven Triple-Point Electrode

Ultrashort electric pulses (ns-ps) are useful in gaining understanding as to how pulsed electric fields act upon biological cells, but the electric field intensity to induce biological responses is typically higher than longer pulses and therefore a high voltage ultrashort pulse generator is required. To deliver 1 ns pulses with sufficient electric field but at a relatively low voltage, we used a glass-encapsulated tungsten wire triple-point electrode (TPE) at the interface among glass, tungsten wire, and water when it is immersed in water. A high electric field (2 MV/cm) can be created when pulses are applied. However, such a high electric field was found to cause bubble emission and temperature rise in the water near the electrode. They can be attributed to Joule heating near the electrode. Adherent cells on a cover slip treated by the combination of these stimuli showed two major effects: (1) cells in a crater (<100 μm from electrode) were fragmented and the debris was blown away. The principal mechanism for the damage is presumed to be shear forces due to bubble collapse; and (2) cells in the periphery of the crater were permeabilized, which was due to the combination of bubble movement and microstreaming as well as pulsed electric fields. These results show that ultrashort electric fields assisted by microbubbles can cause significant cell response and therefore a triple-point electrode is a useful ablation tool for applications that require submillimeter precision.

The Electric Honeycomb; an investigation of the Rose window instability

The Rose window instability is a little-explored electrohydrodynamic instability that manifests when a layer of low-conducting oil is placed in an electric field generated by corona discharge in a point-to-plane configuration. Above a critical voltage, the instability starts as a single dimple in the oil layer right below the point electrode and subsequently evolves into a characteristic pattern of polygonal cells. In this study, we experimentally explore governing parameters that guide the instability and document geometric attributes of the characteristic cellular pattern. The driving force for the instability has been attributed to the buildup of charged ions which in turn apply an electric pressure on the oil surface. We confirm the charged surface distribution using thermal imaging and demonstrate that the instability can be locally inhibited by preventing charge buildup under an ion shadow.