Orientador: Rogério Pinto Mota / Resumo: Esta tese teve como o intuito o estudo e caracterização de jatos de plasma com diferentes diâmetros no tratamento do polímero Politereftalato de Etileno (PET), visando estudar a uniformidade e a área de alcance dos tratamentos. Posteriormente, um desses jatos foi utilizado para o tratamento de sementes de girassol, com o objetivo de investigar as modificações superficiais, físico-químicas e o comportamento biológico das sementes após os tratamentos a plasma, buscando compreender os mecanismos de interação do plasma com as sementes. A caracterização superficial do PET foi realizada através de medições de ângulo de contato, rugosidade e análise das mudanças químicas com a Espectroscopia de Fotoelétrons Excitados por Raios X (XPS). Enquanto que, as caracterizações realizadas nas sementes foram medidas de ângulo de contato, absorção de água e corante, perda de massa, Espectroscopia no Infravermelho com Transformada de Fourier por Refletância Total Atenuada (FTIR-ATR) e Microscopia Eletrônica de Varredura (MEV). Para avaliação da parte biológica foram realizados ensaios de taxa de germinação e de taxa de crescimento. Os tratamentos no PET com os três jatos de plasma utilizados demonstraram uma diminuição considerável nos valores de ângulo de contato e a área de tratamento alcançada por cada jato foi devidamente calculada. Através do aumento dos valores da rugosidade foi possível verificar que o tratamento a plasma estendeu-se para fora do cone do jato. Houve também incorporação de... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The purpose of this thesis was to study and characterize plasma jets with different diameters in the treatment of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) in order to study the treatment range and uniformity. Subsequently, one of these jets was used for the treatment of sunflower seeds, with the objective to investigate the seeds surface, physicochemical changes and the biological behavior of the seeds after the plasma treatments, seeking to understand the mechanisms of the interaction of the plasma with the seeds. The superficial characterization of the PET was performed through measurements of water contact angle, roughness and analysis of chemical changes with X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). While, the characterizations performed on sunflower seeds were water contact angle, water and dye absorption, mass loss, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy by Total Attenuated Reflectance (FTIR-ATR) and Scanning Electronic Microscopy (SEM). For the biological evaluation germination rate and growth rate tests were performed. The treatments on PET with the three plasma jets showed a considerable decrease in water contact angle values and the treatment area obtained by each jet was calculated. By increased roughness values it was possible to verify that the plasma treatment extended outside the cone of the jet. There was also incorporation of functional groups of O, increase of small amounts of N and removal of contaminants in the plasma treated PET samples confirmed by the XPS analy... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Doutor

Les plasmas froids produits par les décharges électriques sont des gaz faiblement ionisés, ce qui maintient la température du gaz à une température proche de la température ambiante, contrairement à la température de l'électron qui peut atteindre plusieurs électron-volts. Les applications des plasmas froids en médecine et en agriculture sont des nouveaux domaines de recherche multidisciplinaires basés sur les interactions de ces plasmas avec des organismes vivants. Le champ électrique ainsi que les espèces réactives de l’oxygène et de l'azote peuvent inactiver les bactéries, stimuler la régénération de la peau (dermatologie), la réduction tumorale (oncologie) et la germination des graines (agriculture). Ces nouveaux domaines de recherche, basé sur la chimie produite par l’interaction plasma-liquide est très prometteur et se développe rapidement. L’objectif de ce travail est d’étudier les interactions entre les plasmas froids et l’eau pour les applications biologiques, d’une part la promotion de la germination des graines au moyen d’une décharge à barrière diélectrique (DBD) et, d’autre part, l’effet ex vivo d’un traitement par jet de plasma froid sur la peau.Ce manuscrit est divisé en cinq chapitres: i) On présente tout d'abord une revue de la littérature présentant l'état de l’art concernant l'interaction plasma-liquide et les principales avancées en matière d'applications des plasmas froids à la germination des semences. Ii) Deuxièmement, les dispisitifs expérimentaux sont décrits, en particulier la fabrication de réacteurs à plasma utilisant l’impression 3D. Iii) Ensuite, la production d'espèces réactives gazeuses et aqueuses formées par des plasmas de type DBD a été mesurée quantitativement et l'interaction plasma-liquide a été analysée. Iv) Puis, plusieurs variétés de graines ont été sélectionnées pour évaluer l’effet un traitement par plasma DBD ; l'étude des mécanismes de promotion de la germination du plasma a été spécifiquement étudiée en traitant les graines de soja vert dans différentes conditions de décharge, dans différents milieux, avec un champ électrique seul et dans différentes conditions de cultures ou de niveau d'hydratation des graines.v) Enfin, l'imagerie paramétrique de Muller (MPI) a été appliquée pour la modification de la peau de souris ex vivo traitées par un plasma à jet d'hélium. / Non-Thermal-Plasmas (NTP) produced by electric discharges are weakly ionized gases, which keeps the gas temperature at near room temperature contrary to the electron temperature which can reach several electron-Volts. Applications of NTP to medicine and agriculture are new multidisciplinary research fields based on interactions of the Non-Thermal-Plasmas with living organisms. Electric field as well as Reactive Oxygen and Nitrogen Species produced by NTP may inactivate bacteria, stimulate skin regeneration (dermatology), tumor reduction (oncology) and seeds germination (agriculture). These new fields of research are based on the plasma-liquid chemistry. The objective of this work is to study the NTP interacting with water for biological applications including on one hand, the promotion of the germination of seeds using a Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) and on the other hand, the effect of a plasma jet treatment ex vivo on skinThis manuscript is divided in five chapters: i) First a literature review is presented showing the state of the art of the plasma-liquid interaction, and the main advances of the application of non thermal plasmas to seed germination. Ii) Second, experimental set ups are described, in particular the manufacturing of plasma reactors using 3D printing. Iii) then , the production of gaseous and aqueous reactive species formed by DBD plasmas was measured quantitatively and plasma-liquid interaction was analyzed. Iv) Next, different varieties of seeds were selected to evaluate the effect of a DBD plasma treatment and the study of the mechanisms of plasma germination promotion was specifically investigated by treating mung bean seeds in different discharge conditions, in different mediums, in electric field alone and in different hydration levels of seeds.v) Finally, Muller parametric imaging (MPI) was applied to study the modification of ex vivo mice skin treated by a helium jet plasma.