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In the framework of the current work has been the plasma initiated and surface catalysed species conversion studied in low pressure and atmospheric plasmas. The aim of the work is to improve the understanding of the internal processes in order to increase the energy efficiency as well as the selectivity of the reaction products of future plasma devices. Beside many technical applications of plasmas, air purification shows great potential. Over the last decades, plasma based pollution control has proofed its ability to remove harmful contaminants or annoying odours from an air stream. However, the energy efficiency and the selectivity of the products are a remaining challenge.
Motivated by these issues, a multi stage packed-bed reactor has been used to remove admixed ethylene and toluene from an air stream. It has been found that the maximum toluene destruction has been 60%, whereas ethylene has been nearly completely removed. The specific energy β has been between 120 and 1600 JL-1. Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy, FTIR spectroscopy, has been used to identify and quantify the species H2O, CO2, CO, O3, HNO3, HCN, CH2O, CH2O2, N2O and NO2. However, none of these experiments led to the detection of NO.
The embedment of packing material into a plasma volume leads to increased surface effects. In order to study them, the inner side of a tube reactor, made of Pyrex, served as the surface under study and has been exposed to a rf plasma for 1h. The surface effects of the plasma treatment have been investigated indirectly by studying the oxidation of NO into NO2. After the plasma exposure, the reactor has been evacuated and filled with a gas mixture of 1% NO in N2 / Ar. Both species have been measured using quantum cascade laser absorption spectroscopy, QCLAS. It has been found that, using oxygen containing plasmas, the NO concentration decreased whereas the NO2 concentration increased. Therefore, oxygen containing plasmas are able to deposit oxygen on the surface. The filling with NO leads to the oxidation via the Eley-Rideal mechanism. A simplified model calculation supports these assumptions.
For a more comfortable application of the QCLAS, a compact multi channel spectrometer has been developed, TRIPLE Q. It combines the high time resolution with the possibility to measure the concentration of at least three infrared active species simultaneously. Due to the high time resolution, a huge number of spectra have to be analysed. In order to calculate absolute number densities, an algorithm has been developed which automatically treats typical phenomena like pulse jitter, rapid passage effect or variations of the intensity of the laser pulses.
The gas temperature is an important parameter in plasma physics. Using the TRIPLE Q system, the gas temperature has been determined for pulsed dc plasmas. For this case, NO has been used as a probe gas. From the spectra, the temperature has been calculated using the line ratio method. The relative intensity of the absorption structures of NO at 1900.5cm-1 and 1900.08cm-1 depend on the temperature. Therefore, the ratio has been used to calculate the gas temperature with a time resolution in the μs range.
Vibrationally excited nitrogen can be an energy reservoir that plays an important role in plasma chemistry. In N2 / N2O plasmas, vibrationally excited N2 can undergo relaxation via a resonant vibration vibration coupling between vibrationally excited N2 and N2O. Due to such an efficient energy transfer, the method allows one to study the relaxation of vibrationally excited N2. Using this method, molecules, which are not infrared active, can be monitored. This approach has extended the field of scientific and commercial applications of the QCLAS.
Die Inaktivierung von Bakterien durch Antiseptika, z. B. auf chronischen Wunden ist unter anderem aufgrund der Bildung von Biofilmen erschwert. Ebenso stellt die Entwicklung von Resistenzen gegenüber Antibiotika ein immer größer werdendes Problem bei der Behandlung von Infektionen dar. Zudem ist die antimikrobielle Behandlung nur ein Teilaspekt, um chronisch infizierte Wunden in einen regenerativen Heilungsprozess zu überführen. Daher sind neue, alternative Behandlungsstrategien von hoher Bedeutung. Hierfür scheint physikalisches Plasma aufgrund seiner antimikrobiellen wie auch wundheilungsfördernder Wirkungsweise eine aussichtsreiche Perspektive darzustellen. Zur Erzeugung von sog. Tissue Tollerablen Plasma (TTP) stehen verschiedene Plasmaquellen zur Verfügung, die zur Anwendung gegen Mikroorganismen in Biofilmen in Frage kommen. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurden der kinpen09 und zwei Dielektrisch-Behinderte-Oberflächen-Entladungs-Quellen, die Conplas- und die Epoxidharz-Plasmaquelle, auf ihre antimikrobielle Wirkungsweise mit Argonplasma mit und ohne Sauerstoffbeimischung und mit Luftplasma v. a. an Biofilmen mit P. aeruginosa SG81 und S. epidermidis RP62A untersucht. Mit dem kinpen09 wurde zusätzlich die antimikrobielle Effektivität von Plasma mit Helium oder Stickstoffbeimischungen getestet. Bei Einsatz des kinpen09 zeigte sich Argon als das antimikrobiell effektivste Trägergas. Bei der Epoxidharz-Plasmaquelle war Luftplasma am wirksamsten. Bei der Conplas sind Luft- und Argonplasma etwa gleich effizient gegen mikrobielle Biofilme. Die Reduktionsraten bei Argonplasma mit dem kinpen09 und Conplas lagen nach 300 s Expositionszeit bei P. aeruginosa bei ca. 5 log10 und mit dem kinpen09 bei S. epidermidis bei 3 log10. Diese Reduktionsraten übersteigen mit Ausnahme von 300 s Ar+O2-Plasma (kinpen09) die Wirksamkeit von Chlorhexidin (0,1 %), einem Standard-Antiseptikum zur Behandlung von Biofilmen, nach 10 min Behandlungsdauer von ca. 1,5 log10 signifikant (p < 0,005). In Übereinstimmung zur Literatur lässt sich aus den Ergebnissen ableiten, dass v. a. Sauerstoffradikale für die antimikrobielle Wirksamkeit verantwortlich sind. Neben der alleinigen Anwendung von TTP könnten Kombinationsbehandlungen mit Antiseptika aussichtsreiche Verfahren zur gezielten Inaktivierung von Mikroorganismen in Biofilmen und zur Modulation von Wundheilungsprozessen darstellen.
Das Ziel dieser Studie war es, die Wirkung von kaltem Atmosphärendruckplasma und Natriumhypochlorit, allein oder in Kombination, auf einen Enterococcus faecalis Biofilm in Wurzelkanälen von extrahierten Zähnen zu vergleichen. Die antibakterielle Wirksamkeit wurde durch Ermittlung des Logarithmus der koloniebildenden Einheiten pro Milliliter bestimmt (log10CFU/ml). Zusätzlich wurden rasterelektronenmikroskopische Aufnahmen angefertigt, um den Behandlungseffekt auf den Biofilm zu visualisieren. Die adjuvante Behandlung mit NaOCl + Argon-O2-Plasma hat im Vergleich zur 12 min Monotherapie mit Natriumhypochlorit einen besseren, wenn auch statistisch nicht signifikanten Effekt auf die Keimreduktion in einem Enterococcus faecalis Biofilm. Die Behandlung mit Argon-O2-Plasma allein zeigt eine signifikante Verbesserung der Wirksamkeit bei einer Verlängerung der Behandlungszeit von 6 auf 12 min, blieb aber hinter der Keimreduktion nach Behandlung mit NaOCl + Argon-O2-Plasma zurück.
Die initiale Integration von Implantaten ist von hoher Bedeutung für die spätere Stabilität und
Standzeit von beispielsweise Endoprothesen im Körper. Mit Hinblick auf die steigende Zahl
von Patienten, die ein Implantat benötigen, ist es von großer Bedeutung unterschiedliche
Implantatmaterialien und Oberflächenmodifizierungen bezüglich ihrer Eigenschaften und
Interaktionen mit dem Implantatlager zu untersuchen, um diese verbessern zu können.
Ziel der vorgestellten Arbeit war die Entwicklung und Etablierung eines Screeningmodells zur
Analyse der Auswirkung von verschiedenen Metallimplantaten auf die Mikrozirkulation in
unmittelbarer Nähe des Implantats.
Dazu wurde ein neues in vivo Modell an der Chorioallantoismembran des Hühnerembryos
entwickelt, angewendet und etabliert. Dieses stellt eine Modifikation des seit Jahrzehnten
etablierten HET-CAM (Hühnereitest an der Chorioallantoismembran) dar und ermöglicht
quantitative und qualitative intravitalmikroskopische Aussagen über die Funktionelle
Gefäßdichte (FGD) und die Leukozyten-Endothel-Interaktion (LEI).
Zunächst wurden im Zuge der Modellanwendung Nickel- und Titan-Implantate verglichen, um
die mögliche Reaktionsbreite des Modells zu untersuchen. Es folgte eine Etablierung des
Modells, indem die Oberfläche der Implantate kurz vor der Applikation mit kaltem
Atmosphärendruckplasma (CAP) behandelt wurde. Die intravitalmikroskopische
Untersuchung erfolgte jeweils 24 h nach Applikation.
Die Chorioallantoismembran der mit Nickel-Implantaten behandelten Hühnerembryonen
zeigte im Vergleich zur Titan- und der internen Kontrollgruppe eine signifikante Reduktion der
FGD sowie eine signifikante Erhöhung der LEI gegenüber der Kontrollgruppe. Durch
Vorbehandlung der Nickel-Implantate mit CAP konnte der Negativeffekt auf das Gefäßsystem
signifikant reduziert werden. Für Titanimplantate konnte mit Hinblick auf die FGD kein
zusätzlicher Effekt nach der Behandlung mit CAP detektiert werden.
Die vorgestellte Arbeit zeigt, dass sich das neue Modell als Screeningmodell dazu eignet, neue
Implantatmaterialien und Oberflächenmodifikationen an der Schwelle zwischen in vitro
Zellkultur und in vivo Tiermodellen zu untersuchen. Somit könnte es dabei helfen,
Tierversuche gezielter einzusetzen. Vorteile und Einschränkungen des Modells werden
diskutiert.
Microalgae are aquatic, unicellular, eukaryotic organisms, which perform photosynthesis. They have gained interest within the last decades not only for biofuel production due to their high amount of lipids, but also for pharmaceutical and for nutraceutical purposes. Interesting compounds are proteins, carbohydrates, or pigments, such as carotenoids. However, microalgae possess strong and rigid cell walls, which hinder a sufficient and yet, gentle extraction of those valuable compounds. Although standard extraction techniques are available, several shortcomings occur, e.g. high energy demand, use of environmentally harmful solvents or alteration of compounds due to heat or chemicals. Therefore, an alternative method is needed, which is able to address these disadvantages. Physical plasmas were thus studied to answer the question whether they are able to disintegrate the cell walls of microalgae effectively and yet, without degradation of the extractives.
First step of the thesis was to find a suitable plasma source that has an effect on the cell walls because plasma effects, such as electric fields, shockwaves, UV light emission, and the generation of reactive species can be tailored with the respective setup. It was found that spark discharges are most effective for the extraction of Chlorella vulgaris, which was chosen as model organism. All extraction yields were compared to reference methods, whereat microwave radiation was found to be the most effective reference method and were hence, applied for comparative studies.
For the next step, proteins were selected as targets to answer the question, which differences can be determined between plasms-treated and microwave-radiated proteins are observable although the extraction yields were equal. Furthermore, plasma effects, especially the effects of reactive species on the extracted proteins had to be studied. Findings indicate that heat sensitive proteins, such as photosystem-related proteins, or histones are better extractable with spark discharges than with microwave exposure and the effect of reactive species is only minor.
The last step was to determine, which plasma effect is responsible for the observed cell wall disintegration. Therefore, the tensile strength of Chlorella vulgaris was determined and compared to the shockwave pressure, which is generated from the spark channel. It was proven that the shockwave pressure exceeds by far the tensile strength of the microalgae an can be thus held responsible for mechanism for cell wall rupture.
In this thesis, it was found that spark discharges are a promising alternative for the extraction of valuable compounds from microalgae. The discharges are not only effective, but also gentle enough for sensitive compounds, such as proteins or pigments.
Because of the vital role of the liquid as interface in plasma medicine, this work is focused on the elucidation of the interaction of plasmas with biologically relevant liquids. The results of this thesis are an important step in the direction of the applications to real biological liquids such as blood and wound secretion ex vivo as well as in vivo. In this thesis the following questions are investigated and answered with the special focus on the free radicals as highly reactive and, therefore, hard to detect relevant group of chemical species: What is the impact of the atmospheric-pressure argon plasma jet on biologically relevant solutions? Which species are generated due to the plasma treatment of liquids? What is an appropriate detection procedure for the qualification and quantification of the short-lived species? Does the surrounding conditions influence the formation of liquid-phase reactive species and can this influence be used to tailor a desired liquid composition? What is the influence of the plasma surroundings? What is the influence of feed gas manipulation regarding the reactive species generation? Can these impacts be used for a selected reactive species composition generation? Does the treated liquid medium affect the plasma-generated reactive species output and in what way? Which are the underlying mechanisms and origins of the plasma-caused chemical changes in the solutions? Do reactive species exist, which origin is located in the gaseous phase? What is the impact of the plasma jet radiation?
Für den zukünftigen Einsatz von Niedertemperaturplasma in Bereichen der Medizin müssen potentielle genotoxische Risiken von Plasma ausgeschlossen werden. Bisherige Risikoanalysen sind durch die unterschiedlich existierenden Plasmaquellen erschwert, die in den energetischen Einstellungen und Konzentrationen der reaktiven Sauerstoffspezies (ROS) variieren können. Zur Untersuchung des mutagenen Risikopotentials von Argonplasma, erzeugt mit den Plasma-Jets kINPen MED und kINPen 09, wurde auf dem Micronucleustest am angebrüteten Hühnerei (HET-MN), der eine Alternativmethode zwischen in-vitro und in-vivo Tests ist, zurückgegriffen. Die Plasmabehandlung mit Argongas erfolgte in unterschiedlichen Behandlungszeiten am 8. Bebrütungstag auf der inneren Membran des Hühnerembryos. Nach der Blutentnahme am 11. Tag, wurde das Blut im Blutausstrich auf das Vorhandensein von Micronuclei (MN) untersucht. Die gezählten MN der definitiven Erythrozyten (E II) dienten zur Bestimmung der Genotoxizität (MNE II). Die Ergebnisse der Plasmabehandlung mit dem kINPen MED ergaben in der Höchstdosis von einer Behandlungszeit von 10 min keine erhöhten MNE II Werte, obwohl die akute Toxizität bei > 40 % lag. Mit dem kINPen 09 konnten bei einer maximalen Behandlungsdauer von 2,5 min ebenfalls keine erhöhten MNE II Häufigkeiten ermittelt werden. Möglicherweise haben die im Hühnerembryo vorkommenden Abwehr- und Reparatursysteme gegenüber ROS das negative Ergebnis beeinflusst.
In der Arbeit werden hydrodynamische Modelle und numerische Verfahren zur theoretischen Beschreibung von anisothermen Plasmen untersucht und zur Analyse von Argonentladungen eingesetzt. Es wird ein neues Vier-Momenten-Modell sowie ein neues Drift-Diffusionsmodell zur Beschreibung der Elektronen hergeleitet. Die Beschreibung der Schwerteilchen erfolgt auf Basis eines Zwei-Momenten-Modells bzw. eines Drift-Diffusionsmodells. Zur selbstkonsistenten Bestimmung des elektrischen Feldes wird die Poisson-Gleichung gelöst. Es wird gezeigt, dass die neu entwickelten Fluid-Modelle eingesetzt werden können, um nichtlokale Transporteffekte der Elektronen zu studieren. Zur Diskretisierung der Mehr-Momenten-Modelle werden neue FCT-Verfahren auf Basis der Finiter-Differenzen- und der Finite-Elemente-Methode hergeleitet. Die Diskretisierung der Drift-Diffusionsmodelle erfolgt mittels einer modifizierten Scharfetter-Gummel-Methode. Zur Unterstützung experimenteller Untersuchungen werden neben einer Niederdruckglimmentladung, einer RF-Entladung bei Niederdruck und einer gepulsten Atmosphärendruckentladung auch eine dielektrisch behinderte Entladung bei Atmosphärendruck analysiert. Es wird gezeigt, dass die experimentell beobachteten Schichtstrukturen auf die lange Lebensdauer metastabiler Argonatome zurückzuführen sind.
The biological decontamination and sterilization is a crucial processing step in producing and reprocessing of medical devices. Since polymer-based materials are increasingly used for the production of medical devices, the application of conventional sterilization processes are restricted to a certain extent. Conventional sterilization techniques on the basis of high temperatures, toxic gases, or ionizing radiation can be detrimental to the functionality and performance of polymeric materials. For this reason, alternative, gentle, and efficient decontamination processes are required. One possible approach is the use of non-thermal physical plasmas. Especially atmospheric pressure plasma is receiving great interest due to the absence of vacuum systems which is highly attractive for the practical applicability. Its mechanisms of action enable the efficient killing and inactivation of micro-organisms which are attributed to the interaction of plasma-generated reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (ROS, RNS) as well as plasma-emitted (V)UV radiation. Owing to the moderate gas temperatures (near or at room temperature) so-called cold plasmas are well-suitable for the treatment of heat-sensitive materials, such as polymers, without affecting their bulk properties. The present work focuses on the investigation of atmospheric pressure plasma processes for the biological decontamination of polymers. The objective is to help elucidate on the one hand the impact of varied plasma process parameters on the inactivation of micro-organisms and on the other hand the influence of plasma on the surface properties of the substrate. The investigations were performed by means of a high-frequency driven plasma jet (from the product line kINPen) operated with argon and argon-oxygen mixtures. Three main aspects were analyzed: 1. The effect of plasma on the viability of micro-organisms dependent on working gas, treatment time, and the sample distance (distance between the jet nozzle and the substrate). 2. The plasma-based removal of microbial biofilms. 3. The effects of the plasma treatment on the surface properties of selected polymers. Additionally to the capability of the applied plasma jet in killing microbes the efficacy of this plasma jet for the removal of complex biological systems (e.g. biofilms) is shown. To model cell constituents of bacteria different synthetic polymers were chosen to gain insight into the decomposition process responsible for biofilm degradation. By investigating the impact of atmospheric pressure plasma on physico-chemical surface properties of various synthetic aliphatic and aromatic polymers the interaction mechanisms between plasma and plasma-exposed material are discussed. These studies are accompanied by applying different optical plasma diagnostic techniques (optical emission spectroscopy and two-photon absorption laser induced fluorescence spectroscopy) to obtain information on the plasma gas phase which contributes to the elucidation of the reaction mechanisms occurring during plasma exposure. Moreover, it is presented to which extent the plasma treatment influences the surface properties of polymers during the plasma-based bio-decontamination process and further, the benefits of surface-functionalized polymers for biomedical application is discussed.
In this work the mechanisms leading to the generation of the various reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS) in a cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) jet and means to control their composition were studied. The investigated CAP jet kinpen is typically operated with Ar feed gas (pure or with molecular admixtures), driven at a frequency of approximately 1 MHz and features fast ionization waves or guided streamers, traveling at velocities of several km/s. The complex reaction networks were investigated by numerical and experimental techniques. Detailed experimental, analytical and computational investigations on the mass and heat transport in the plasma plume were performed: A novel analytical approach to diffusion in jet flows, the non-dispersive path mapping approximation (NDPM) was developed. The method for the first time allows for an estimation of the ambient species density in the near-field of jets that feature a non-homogeneous flow-field. The NDPM approximation was employed for the evaluation of laser induced fluorescence measurements on OH. Through combining measurements and NDPM approximation, this approach yielded an estimation for the ambient species density at the position of the guided streamers, not only in the laminar, but also in the (standard) turbulent operating regime. Accurate measurements of the temporally averaged ambient species density and temperature in the plasma plume were obtained by quantitative Schlieren measurements. The method yields temperature values with sub-Kelvin accuracy and, through combination with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, allowed for an estimation of the calorimetric power of the jet. In order to obtain a defined environment for the jet to operate in, a shielding gas device was designed in this work, which creates a gas curtain of defined composition around the plasma plume. The plasma dynamics on the ns timescale was investigated by phase resolved optical measurements. The effect of different shielding compositions ranging from pure N2 to pure O2 on guided streamer propagation was investigated. An electrostatic focusing mechanisms was discovered, which promotes the propagation of guided streamers along the channels formed by a noble gas in the plume of plasma jets operating in electronegative gases (such as air or O2). Two zero-dimensional (volume averaged) models were developed: First, the local processes in the guided streamer were modeled using an electron impact reaction kinetic model, which is closely correlated to densities of metastable argon (Ar*) obtained by laser atom absorption measurements. This first model shows that Ar* is the species which dominantly drives the plasma chemistry in the plasma plume. This is exploited in the second plug-flow reaction kinetics model, which is employed to investigate the formation of long-living RONS and uses an Ar* source term as sole energy input. The model uses the previous experimental data on mass and heat transport and temporal dynamics as input and is in turn verified by quantitative FTIR absorption measurements on O3, NO2, N2O, HNO3 and N2O5 in the far-field of the jet, where large absorption lengths can be achieved using a multi pass cell. For the evaluation of the zero-dimensional model, the time-of-flight of RONS from their generation to reaching the multi pass cell was determined using CFD simulations. The insight gained through this combined experimental-modeling approach on the reaction networks revealed relevant control parameters and enabled adjusting the plasma chemistry towards a desired RONS output. Through choosing appropriate feed-gas admixtures and shielding gas compositions, it is possible to generate an NOx-dominated plasma chemistry, although the jet usually produces a strongly O/O3-dominated chemistry. Understanding and controlling the plasma chemistry of cold atmospheric plasma sources for medical applications is not only essential for research, but is also the key for designing future plasma sources for specific medical applications that yield an optimum efficacy and avoid potential side effects of plasma treatment.