Mohammed Yousfi

Experimental analysis and modelling of positive streamer in air: towards an estimation of O and N radical production

This paper is mainly devoted to the comparison between the calculation and experimental results of primary and secondary streamer development in a point-to-plane positive corona discharge in dry air at atmospheric pressure. The qualitative agreement between experimental and calculation results based on the hydrodynamics approximation shows that the O radical is mainly produced in the secondary streamer which is in good agreement with the recent literature measurements using TALIF diagnostics. However, the O radical production yield (in terms of radicals produced per energy injected) is more efficient in the primary streamer than in the secondary one. The main positive corona discharge characteristics are revisited using fast electrical and optical ICCD and streak camera measurements. The calculation shows two streamer radii of, respectively, 10 µm (associated with the radial extension of a high electron density region) and 200 µm (corresponding to the extension of the radial space charge electric field).

Low-temperature plasmas at atmospheric pressure: toward new pharmaceutical treatments in medicine.

This article concerns a new field covered by low‐temperature plasmas at atmospheric pressure for medical treatments. This is based on the very attractive possibility to tune and design plasmas as possible pharmaceutical products using selectively some active species (charged particles, radicals, atomic and molecular agents, UV radiations) and even electric fields self‐generated by the plasma. The delivery of active species occurs at the gaseous level. This means that there is no need for a carrier medium, and the treatment of living tissue or surface is optimal because plasmas can penetrate small pores, spread over rough surfaces, and reach both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. The present article gives first a review on the main low‐temperature plasma setups potentially usable for medical treatments with an emphasis on the setups as, for instance, plasma jets developed in our laboratory. Then, the present article gives a review of the current state of the art of such plasmas as pharmaceutical products or therapeutic tools in medicine with a light on a selection of forefront researches particularly in the field of chronic wounds, blood coagulation, and cancer treatment.

Short and long time effects of low temperature Plasma Activated Media on 3D multicellular tumor spheroids.

This work investigates the regionalized antiproliferative effects of plasma-activated medium (PAM) on colon adenocarcinoma multicellular tumor spheroid (MCTS), a model that mimics 3D organization and regionalization of a microtumor region. PAM was generated by dielectric barrier plasma jet setup crossed by helium carrier gas. MCTS were transferred in PAM at various times after plasma exposure up to 48 hours and effect on MCTS growth and DNA damage were evaluated. We report the impact of plasma exposure duration and delay before transfer on MCTS growth and DNA damage. Local accumulation of DNA damage revealed by histone H2AX phosphorylation is observed on outermost layers and is dependent on plasma exposure. DNA damage is completely reverted by catalase addition indicating that H2O2 plays major role in observed genotoxic effect while growth inhibitory effect is maintained suggesting that it is due to others reactive species. SOD and D-mannitol scavengers also reduced DNA damage by 30% indicating that and OH* are involved in H2O2 formation. Finally, PAM is able to retain its cytotoxic and genotoxic activity upon storage at +4 °C or −80 °C. These results suggest that plasma activated media may be a promising new antitumor strategy for colorectal cancer tumors.

Critical Analysis on Two-Dimensional Point-to-Plane Streamer Simulations Using the Finite Element and Finite Volume Methods

Two different categories of high-order numerical methods are adopted for the electro-hydrodynamic modeling of the streamer: the finite-element method (FEM) with flux-corrected-transport (FCT) technique and the finite-volume method (FVM) with monotonic upwind-centered scheme for conservation-law (MUSCL) algorithm. Specific numerical tests on the transport equation are used to investigate the efficiency of the two methods to propagate sharp density gradients in stationary uniform and nonuniform velocity fields. The streamer simulations are performed in a positive point-to-plane electrodes filled with air at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. The influence of the numerical schemes on the 2-D streamer modeling is analyzed. Both FVM-MUSCL and FEM-FCT accurately describe the streamer propagation and the morphology of the discharge channel, thereby giving similar axial and radial density profiles. Furthermore, the computational cost is higher for the FEM-FCT solver as compared to the FVM-MUSCL one, which is at least twice as fast. However, the unstructured-grid approach adopted by FEM-FCT proves to be very efficient in describing nonuniform geometries.

The use of thermal techniques for the characterization and selection of natural biomaterials.

In this paper we explore the ability of thermal analysis to check elastin and collagen integrity in different biomaterial applications. Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) has been used to analyze the first and second order transitions of the biological macromolecules in the hydrated and dehydrated state. First, we report the characterization of control cardiovascular tissues such as pericardium, aortic wall and valvular leaflet. Their thermal properties are compared to pure elastin and pure collagen. Second, we present results obtained on two collagen rich tissues: pericardia with different chemical treatments and collagen with physical treatments. Finally, more complex cardiovascular tissues composed of elastin and collagen are analyzed and the effect of detergent treatment on the physical structure of collagen and elastin is brought to the fore.

Breakdown electric field calculations of hot SF/sub 6/ for high voltage circuit breaker applications

The critical reduced electric field strengths of hot SF/sub 6/ corresponding to the dielectric recovery phase of a high voltage circuit breaker are calculated for a large temperature range (300-3000 K). Calculations are based on a multi-term Boltzmann equation solution using, in comparison to the literature works, improved cross section sets for the interactions of electrons with various SF/sub 6/ dissociated products. The obtained critical electric fields show a reasonable agreement with the available data. These results are then used in hydrodynamics simulations which correctly predicts the circuit breaker behaviors observed in the case of a successful breaking test as well as in a failed one.

Low-temperature plasma-induced antiproliferative effects on multi-cellular tumor spheroids

Biomedical applications of low-temperature plasmas are of growing interest, especially in the field of plasma-induced anti-tumor effects. The present work is aimed at investigating the regionalized antiproliferative effects of low-temperature plasmas on a multicellular tumor spheroid (MCTS), a model that mimics the 3D organization and regionalization of a microtumor region. We report that a low-temperature plasma jet, using helium flow in open air, inhibits HCT116 colon carcinoma MCTS growth in a dose-dependent manner. This growth inhibition is associated with the loss of Ki67, and the regionalized accumulation of DNA damage detected by histone H2AX phosphorylation. This regionalized genotoxic effect leads to massive cell death and loss of the MCTS proliferative region. The use of reactive oxygen species (ROS), scavenger Nacetyl cysteine (NAC) and plasma-conditioned media demonstrate that the ROS generated in the media after exposure to low-temperature plasma play a major role in these observed effects. These findings strengthen the interest in the use of MCTS for the evaluation of antiproliferative strategies, and open new perspectives for studies dedicated to demonstrate the potential of low-temperature plasma in cancer therapy.

New Breakdown Electric Field Calculation for SF6 High Voltage Circuit Breaker Applications

The critical electric fields of hot SF6 are calculated including both electron and ion kinetics in wide ranges of temperature and pressure, namely from 300 K up to 4000 K and 2 atmospheres up to 32 atmospheres respectively. Based on solving a multi-term electron Boltzmann equation the calculations use improved electron-gas collision cross sections for twelve SF6 dissociation products with a particular emphasis on the electron-vibrating molecule interactions. The ion kinetics is also considered and its role on the critical field becomes non negligible as the temperature is above 2000 K. These critical fields are then used in hydrodynamics simulations which correctly predict the circuit breaker behaviours observed in the case of breaking tests.

Electron transport coefficients in the mixtures of H2O with N2, O2, CO2 and dry air for the optimization of non-thermal atmospheric pressure plasmas

This paper presents the simultaneous measurement and calculation of the electron drift velocity in binary and ternary mixtures of N2, O2, CO2 with H2O. The main aim of this study has been the generation of a self-consistent set of validated collision cross sections that explain thoroughly the dependence of the electron drift velocity in the above pure gases and their mixtures. In doing this, changes to the collision cross section set for H2O had to be made, while all other cross section sets remained unchanged. It is worth mentioning that only a few experiments had been performed before dealing with water mixtures. The electron drift velocities in the binary and ternary mixtures under study show the effects of negative differential conductivity, and this has been explained thoroughly in terms of the collision cross sections and electron distribution functions through a multi-term Boltzmann code. It is important to note that two-term codes fail to predict the dependence of the drift velocity at low water concentrations and low E/N values. Calculated values of longitudinal and transverse diffusion coefficients, mean energies and distribution functions are also given over the E/N range 0.1 Td–2 kTd (1 Td = 10−17 V cm2).

Electrical analysis of positive corona discharge in air and N2, O2, and CO2 mixtures

This paper presents an experimental analysis of the electrical behavior of positive point-plane corona discharges. The corona current, streamer velocity, mean discharge frequency, and current-voltage characteristic are studied, firstly in synthetic air as a function of experimental parameters such as gap distance and tip radius. Different electrical diagnostics are used in order to better understand the streamer development as well as the dependence of its characteristics on the previous listed parameters. Then the influence of gas mixture (several proportions of N2 and O2 with or without CO2) is analyzed. When the gas concentration is varied the shape and amplitude of the corona current are significantly affected due to the variation of the gas electronegativity following its composition and concentration. The ionization and attachment coefficients are calculated from the electron energy distribution function in the case of these different gas mixtures in order to quantify the critical electric field val...