  There is an urgent need for disinfection and sterilization devices accessible
to the public that can be fulfilled by innovative strategies for using cold
atmospheric pressure plasmas. Here we explore and evaluate an approach
combining a flexible printed circuit design of a dielectric barrier discharge
(DBD) with an environmentally safe chemical reagent for surface decontamination
from bacterial contaminants. The device operates in ambient air without any
additional gas flow at a power density of about 0.5 W/cm^2. Using a 3% hydrogen
peroxide solution as a model reagent we demonstrate improved reduction in the
bacterial load of a surface contaminant of >6log10 in 90 seconds, about 3log10
and 2log10 faster compared to hydrogen peroxide alone and the flexible DBD
alone, respectively, for the same treatment time. The synergistic action of the
plasma bioactive properties and hydrogen peroxide result in a dramatic
improvement of surface disinfection. This opens new possibilities for using the
low power flexible DBD plasma sources for surface disinfection and
decontamination.
