Application of persulfate in low-temperature atmospheric-pressure plasma jet for enhanced treatment of onychomycosis

Fungal infection of human nails, or onychomycosis, affects 10% of the world’s adult population, but current therapies have various drawbacks. In this work, we employed a self-made lowtemperature plasma (LTP) device, namely, an atmospheric-pressure plasma jet (APPJ) device to treat the nails infected with Trichophyton rubrum (T. rubrum) with the aid of persulfate solution. We found that persulfate solution had a promoting effect on plasma treatment of onychomycosis. With addition of sodium persulfate, the APPJ therapy could cure onychomycosis after several times of treatment. As such, this work has demonstrated a novel and effective approach which makes good use of LTP technique in the treatment of onychomycosis.