Publication
Upcycle hazard against other hazard: Toxic fluorides from plasma fluoropolymer etching turn novel microbial disinfectants
Publisher:
Elsevier BV
Date:
02-2022
DOI:
10.1016/J.JHAZMAT.2021.127658
Abstract: The release of toxic fluoride byproducts is a seemingly unavoidable artifact of surface engineering, causing severe environmental and human health problems. Here we propose and implement a new "upcycle hazard against other hazard" concept in the case study of cold atmospheric plasma surface modification of fluoropolymers such as polytetrafluorethylene (PTFE). Capitalizing on the excellent controllability, precision and energy efficiency of the plasma surface processing, complemented with the recently discovered ability of plasmas to activate water to produce a potent electrochemical disinfectant, referred to as the plasma-activated water (PAW), we demonstrate a radically new solution to capture the hazardous gaseous fluorides into the PAW and use the as-fluorinated PAW (F-PAW) as a very effective antimicrobial disinfectant. A customized surface discharge reactor is developed to evaluate the effects of fluorides released from the plasma etching of PTFE on the chemistries in gas-phase plasmas and F-PAW, as well as the antibacterial effect of F-PAW. The results show that gaseous fluorides, including COF