In this paper, we present a modeling study on the discharge characteristics driven by short pulsed voltages, focusing on the effects of pulse rise rate based on the fluid description of atmospheric plasmas. The numerical results show that the breakdown voltage of short pulsed discharge is almost linearly dependent on the pulse rise rate, which is also confirmed by the derived equations from the fluid model. In other words, if the pulse rise rate is fixed as a constant, the simulation results clearly suggest that the breakdown voltage is almost unchanged, although the amplitude of pulsed voltage increases significantly. The spatial distribution of the electric field and electron density are given to reveal the underpinning physics. Additionally, the computational data and the analytical expression also indicate that an increased repetition frequency can effectively decrease the breakdown voltage and current density, which is consistent with the experimental observation.

Plasma medicine, or the biomedical application of cold atmospheric plasma (CAP), is an expanding field within plasma research. CAP has demonstrated remarkable versatility in diverse biological applications, including cancer treatment, wound healing, microorganism inactivation, and skin disease therapy. However, the precise mechanisms underlying the effects of CAP remain incompletely understood. The therapeutic effects of CAP are largely attributed to the generation of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS), which play a crucial role in the biological responses induced by CAP. Specifically, RONS produced during CAP treatment have the ability to chemically modify cell membranes and membrane proteins, causing nitro-oxidative stress, thereby leading to changes in membrane permeability and disruption of cellular processes. To gain atomic-level insights into these interactions, non-reactive molecular dynamics (MD) simulations have emerged as a valuable tool. These simulations facilitate the examination of larger-scale system dynamics, including protein-protein and protein-membrane interactions. In this comprehensive review, we focus on the applications of non-reactive MD simulations in studying the effects of CAP on cellular components and interactions at the atomic level, providing a detailed overview of the potential of CAP in medicine. We also review the results of other MD studies that are not related to plasma medicine but explore the effects of nitro-oxidative stress on cellular components and are therefore important for a broader understanding of the underlying processes.