RELEVANT INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS OF ATMOSPHERIC PLASMAS:
CASE STUDIES ON ADHESION, SURFACE MODIFICATION, ENERGY AND
BIOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS
M. Nieto-Perez
Instituto Politecnico Nacional, Queretaro, México
mnietop@ipn.mx
Cold atmospheric plasmas are becoming an important industrial tool for the
modification and treatment of diverse surfaces, since they do not have the limitation of
typical processing plasmas that require a low pressure environment to be generated. This
fact makes them easier to be incorporated in a continuous process or for the treatment of
large pieces or pieces that do not tolerate vacuum. Also, their non-equilibrium character
and their high reactivity makes them very well suited for processes that are difficult or
even impossible to achieve by systems in thermodynamic equilibrium. This summary
work will share with the audience the experiences acquired at CICATA-IPN in the
development of a cold plasma applications lab from the ground up, and some of the
successes and results in applications of these systems as diverse as chemical synthesis,
plasma chemical kinetics, surface modification, food science and biomedical systems.
Perspectives for future work to identify potential collaborative topics will be discussed as
well.