An independent survey of the published research

Everything published on cold plasma, sorted honestly

We read the field so you don't have to — then wrote down what it actually supports, what it doesn't, and what nobody has studied yet. Every number here is sourced, and most of the papers are free to read.

4,846published papers surveyed
37controlled human trials, ever
1,648free to read in full
52trials registered and running
The library

Five documents

Start wherever you like. If you only read one, make it the evidence map — and if you want to make something, make it the open field.

Why this exists

Almost everything written about cold plasma for a general audience either oversells it or dismisses it. Both are easier than reading the papers. We read the papers.

What's here includes the parts that are inconvenient — the applications with no human evidence, the claims the research contradicts, and the field's own criticisms of itself. That's deliberate. A survey that only carried good news wouldn't be worth checking.

Method

How to check us

Every figure in this library traces to a named source, and you can verify the whole thing yourself in about ten minutes.

Go to europepmc.org and search "cold atmospheric plasma" restricted to title and abstract. That's the same free public database this was built from. Tick Open Access and you'll have 1,648 papers you can read in full, for nothing, today.

One warning, because it caught us out first time: an unrestricted search returns about 6,544 records, but roughly a third are about blood plasma, not cold plasma. The term "plasma medicine" alone is around 95% contaminated. Anyone quoting a much larger number for this field has probably counted blood tests.

Cold Plasma Research Library. An independent survey of the published literature on cold atmospheric plasma, compiled from Europe PMC and ClinicalTrials.gov in September 2026. Every figure is sourced and checkable.

These pages describe published research on a technology. They do not describe or endorse any product, they are not medical advice, and nothing in them should be used to make a decision about treating a health condition. Speak to a qualified clinician about anything that matters.