NON THERMAL MICROPLASMA JET ARRAY FOR WOUND HEALING

Chan-Hum Park1,2, Jung-Min Lee1, Hyung-Woo Joo1, Ok-Joo

Lee1, Ji Hee Kim1,2, Jinhoon Cho3, Peter Peng Sun3 Sung-Jin Park3, and J. Gary Eden3

1Nano Bio Regenerative Medicine Institute, Hallym University, Chuncheon, Korea

2Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, College of Medicine, Hallym Medical Center,

Chuncheon, Korea 3Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, USA

For novel biomedical applications such as unconventional and large area treatment, an array of microplasma jets produced in 200 μm diameter channels has been designed and fabricated in several material platforms, including alumina and polymers. For the experiments reported here, the jet array was fabricated in an Al/Al2O3 structure and driven by a sinusoidal waveform having an RMS voltage of ~1 kV and drawing a current of ~20 mA when feedstock gas is He. The length of the microplasma jets emerging from the array is maintained at a few millimeters (shorter than conventional plasma jet) and the device form factor is specifically designed for the treatment of large wound areas with high uniformity. Because the array housing is thin and flexible, the form factor of this multi-jet tool provides access to biomedical surfaces that are a challenge to conventional plasma devices. To investigate the potential of plasma arrays for accelerated healing, we chose the model of the rat epidermis. Excellent wound healing was observed for treatment durations of only ~ 10s. Histological studies show that healing is promoted by improved epithelization and collagen deposition following plasma treatment. The details of the treatment procedure and the characteristics of the 37 jet array will be described.