London: Scientists have designed a prototype device that kills germs from hands, feet and even underarms in a jiffy without harming the skin.
The prototype device can kill off bacteria, viruses, and
fungi in just seconds by creating Plasma, commonly known as
the fourth state of matter besides solid, liquid and gas.
Plasma is a sea of atoms that produces a cocktail of
chemicals in air which kill bacteria but are harmless to skin.
An exposure to the plasma of only about 12 seconds reduces
the incidence of bacteria, viruses, and fungi on hands by a
factor of a million, lead researcher Gregor Morfill wrote in
New Journal of Physics.
"It's actually similar to what our own immune system
does," said Morfill of Max Planck Institute for
Extraterrestrial Physics.
"The plasma produces a series of over 200 chemical
reactions that involve the oxygen and nitrogen in air plus
water vapour - there is a whole concoction of chemical species
that can be lethal to bacteria," Morfill was quoted as saying
by the BBC.
The approach can be used to kill the bacteria that lead
to everything from gum disease to body odour. A related
approach could also lead to use of plasmas to speed the
healing of wounds.
"The idea is scalable to any size, it can be produced in
any shape; it's very flexible. it could also be
battery-operated," Morfill said.
Pointing out that there is already significant interest
from industry, he said, more testing of the devices is
required before they are made available for widespread use.
At present, plasma is being used to disinfect surgical
tools.
PTI