{
  "abstract": "Interaction of cold plasma with aqueous media underpins emerging technologies in water treatment, chemical conversion, and biomedicine, yet scalable plasma-liquid activation remains limited by inefficient gas-liquid mass transfer and rapid reactive-species decay. This study reports a droplet-based plasma activation spray (PAS) reactor and establishes transport-guided design principles for intensifying reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS) capture. Through systematic variation in spray-nozzle size, chamber geometry, and gas flow, we identify regimes governing the magnitude and composition of plasma activation. Smaller droplets (∼342 µm) favored reactive nitrogen species uptake through increased interfacial area, whereas larger droplets (∼1.3 mm) accumulated hydrogen peroxide through bulk-phase retention. Larger chambers extended droplet flight time and enhanced bulk accumulation, while positioning electrodes near the liquid interface minimized short-lived species transport losses. Spatial repositioning of multiple needles further improved the plasma activation by covering inactive zones. These design principles, validated in scaled PAS systems, achieved peak energy yields (>1.84 mmol/MJ at liter-scale) and enabled rapid antibiotic degradation and superior ≥ 5-log microbial inactivation, bridging the gap between plasma science and large-scale environmental application. The results position PAS as a tunable and scalable platform, providing a robust engineering framework that couples plasma physics with droplet hydrodynamics for high-throughput water activation.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 5,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Hon Man Luk",
      "orcid": "0009-0002-6811-7283"
    },
    {
      "name": "Deepak Panchal"
    },
    {
      "name": "Qiuyun Lu"
    },
    {
      "name": "Siyu Chen"
    },
    {
      "name": "Xuehua Zhang"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/d5y7pq0j9cddd.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.26434/chemrxiv.15008634/v1",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "d5y7pq0j9cddd",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15008634/v1",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "2741|Plasma Applications and Diagnostics"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7212160336",
  "pdf_url": null,
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-10",
  "publisher": "American Chemical Society (ACS)",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/d5y7pq0j9cddd.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:17:19Z",
      "native_id": "10.26434/chemrxiv.15008634",
      "source": "chemrxiv",
      "url": "https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15008634/v1"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "openalex:2741|Plasma Applications and Diagnostics",
      "subfield": "imaging"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Transport-guided intensification of plasma activation spray for scalable and tunable water treatment",
  "title_text": "Transport-guided intensification of plasma activation spray for scalable and tunable water treatment",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:17:19Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/d5y7pq0j9cddd",
  "venue": "ChemRxiv",
  "versions": []
}