RAPID: Cold Adaptive Atmospheric Plasma Decontamination of COVID-19

这一快速项目的广泛影响将为控制和管理由非生物物体引起的冠状病毒病(新冠肺炎)的传播提供有效手段。这一努力将导致一种用于对抗冠状病毒的新技术的快速开发和测试。目前的新冠肺炎大流行使全世界都意识到需要净化环境，降低病毒传播的风险。由于SARS-CoV-2(导致新冠肺炎的病毒)刚刚进入人类领域，该病毒的传播和净化方法仍然存在不确定性。据报道，冠状病毒可以在塑料、陶瓷、玻璃和不锈钢等常见材料上存活三天以上。环境表面的清洁和消毒对于预防和控制与医疗保健相关的感染非常重要。这包括表面消毒、空气传播病毒净化和皮肤净化的要求。拟议的快速项目将推动冷适应大气等离子体去污作为一种有效的消毒方法的发展。该项目将开发一种基于冷适应大气等离子体(CA2P)的消毒系统，并结合快速检测这些表面的污染。提出的概念是一种自适应低温等离子体系统。这个基于等离子体的系统将能够快速扫描表面的病毒克隆，同时引导CA2P光束杀死病毒。该系统还将接受空气传播病毒治疗的测试。与目前基于湿化学(杀生化学品)的消毒方法相比，建议的CA2P技术不会导致材料腐蚀，也不会产生有毒化学物质。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impacts of this RAPID project will provide an effective means to control and manage the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) originating from non-biological objects. This effort will lead to rapid development and testing of a new technology to be used against coronaviruses. The current COVID-19 pandemic has generated worldwide awareness for the need to decontaminate the environment and to reduce the risk of transmission of the virus. As SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) was newly introduced into the human realm, uncertainty remains regarding the virus's spread and ways of decontamination. It has been reported that coronaviruses might survive over three days on common materials such as plastics, ceramics, glass and stainless steel. Cleaning and disinfection of environmental surfaces are important for infection prevention and control of healthcare-associated infections. This includes requirements for surface disinfection, airborne virus decontamination and skin decontamination. The proposed RAPID project will advance the development of Cold Adaptive Atmospheric Plasma Decontamination as an efficient approach for disinfection. The project will develop a disinfection system based on cold adaptive atmospheric plasma (CA2P), in combination with rapid detection of the contamination on these surfaces. The proposed concept is an adaptive non-thermal plasma system. This plasma-based system will be capable of rapidly scanning for viral colonies on the surface and simultaneously directing the CA2P beam for viral kill. The system will also be tested for treatment of airborne viruses. Compared to current disinfection methods based on wet chemistry (biocidal chemicals), the proposed CA2P technique would not cause corrosion of materials nor create toxic chemicals.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.