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Portable plasma flashlight blasts away bacteria with ease

An international team of scientists from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, CSIRO Materials Science and Engineering, The University of Sydney and the City University of Hong Kong have created and tested a new portable, battery powered ‘flashlight’ that can kill bacteria with ease using plasma.

The plasma flashlight uses a 12-volt battery to power itself and is self-contained which distributes a blast of plasma directly to your skin to kill bacteria down to the deep levels of the skin where bacteria may be inactive. The plasma heats up to 68-73 degrees Fahrenheit, so it won’t burn the skin and is engineered to not over heat.

In a recent test study the scientists used an extreme example of killing Enterococcus faecalis biofilm to demonstrate that the plasma flashlight can be very effective even at room temperature, for individual bacteria, and the inactivation time could be just tens of seconds. There are many uses for the flashlight, with some suggesting it could be used to blast away harmful bacteria in the mouth, skin and wounds.