Is Plasma Activated Water Really Magical? A Reflection on the Phenomenon

Abstract

A reflection on the phenomenon of plasma-activated water (PAW), its brief history and properties. PAW arises from the accumulation of reactive plasma products (mainly H2O2, NO2−, NO3−, O3 and sometimes HNO, ONOOH) in water and has many interesting and beneficial properties on both living and non-living biological objects. It has attracted considerable attention in the last 15 years and raises the question whether it might not be simpler to prepare it artificially (APAW) directly by mixing chemical compounds. There are several papers which have compared the effects of PAW with APAW and conclude that there is probably no significant difference. In this paper, we conclude that the preparation of PAW is several times more expensive than that of APAW. However, we also note that there may be specific situations in which the production of PAW could be advantageous, such as its efficient role in storing energy in the form of nitrate ions, which can serve as a nutritional source for plants.