Cold Plasma Market Size & Share Analysis - Emerging Trends, Growth Opportunities, Competitive Landscape, and Forecasts (2025 - 2032)

Cold Plasma Market Emerging Trends & Growth Drivers

Rising Demand for Sustainable and Eco-Friendly Solutions Is a Key Trend

• Cold plasma enables treatment and sterilization without any toxic substances.
• This is essential in sectors such as food, textile, and healthcare., where reducing the chemical residue is becoming increasingly important.
• It is done at or around room temperature, and this process uses less energy than the conventional thermal or chemical methods.
• The ultimate result is reduced operating expenses and carbon footprint.
• Cold plasma helps perform surface modifications or decontamination with no hazardous waste production, assisting companies in complying with environmental regulations and managing waste responsibly.
• The process does not generate secondary pollutants or toxic waste since it decomposes pollutants and contaminants into simple substances, such as water and carbon dioxide.
• Governments and other regulatory authorities are encouraging environment-friendly operations and enforcing strict regulations for its conservation.
• Cold plasma offers a compliant method of achieving sustainability objectives/targets without sacrificing performance.
• In September 2024, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture awarded USD 133,775 to Auburn University to procure advanced cold plasma equipment for food and agriculture research.
• This funding aims to expand cold plasma applications in food safety and agricultural productivity.

Rising Prevalence of Chronic Diseases and Wounds Are the Major Growth Driver

• The prevalence of chronic diseases, including diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and respiratory illnesses, is on the rise, resulting in millions of deaths each year.
• As per the WHO, heart diseases have annual mortality of 18 million, while cancer kills almost 10 million people each year.
• The International Diabetes Federation says that the global diabetes incidence will increase from 589 million cases in 2023 to 853 million people by 2050
• The diseases have a high tendency of causing complications, such as non-healing wounds and infections, which need novel therapeutic solutions.
• Cold plasma helps wounds heal faster by encouraging cell growth, forming new blood vessels, and repairing tissue.
• At the same time, it kills bacteria, including those that are resistant to antibiotics, without damaging healthy skin.
• Cold plasma is non-thermal and non-invasive, which means it causes less pain and fewer side effects in patients.
• This makes it easier for patients to stick with the treatment and allows it to be used safely in delicate and complicated cases, such as cancer and long-term wound care.
• Cold plasma can selectively kill cancer cells while preserving healthy cells, offering a promising adjunct or alternative to conventional cancer therapies. This expands its market potential beyond wound care to oncology.
• In November 2024, Neoplas Med GmbH secured a total investment of USD 25 million from Niterra Ventures Company.
• This funding is aimed at expanding the market for Neoplas Med’s cold plasma products and supporting international growth and innovation in cold plasma technology.

Cold Plasma Market Segmentation and Category Analysis

Industry Analysis

The polymer & plastic industry category held the larger market share, of 30%, in 2024. This is attributed to the fact that plastic and polymer applications require strong surface adherence to get the best mechanical functionality and lengthen the life of plastic components. Seeing the widening application of this technology in the polymer & plastic industry, several market players have started launching systems and devices that allow this sector to use it.

For altering surface morphology, improving surface wettability, and boosting plastic's bonded shear strength, the cold plasma approach is helpful. In industrial polymer & plastic applications that need homogeneous, pore-free thin films with exceptional electrical, physical, chemical, and mechanical properties, the cold plasma process is frequently used.

Additionally, a major global epidemic is plastic pollution. According to several global research organizations, 8 million metric tons of plastic are thought to reach the oceans annually, and the outlook for the future is also not good. Moreover, at the current pace, plastic production around the world is likely to grow by twice over the next two decades, and by 2050, the oceans may contain more plastic than fish. Hence, with the rise of plastic pollution, efforts to preserve the environment and ensure better public health are imperative.

The textile category is expected to register the highest revenue CAGR in the forecast period. This technology is used in the process of hydrophilization, to decrease the level of contamination by microorganisms on textiles.

Technical textiles, known as protective textiles, have UV protection, flame retardancy, and antibacterial characteristics. These properties are often imparted by plasma surface treatment, which also offers them a more-durable finish. Many materials can be altered and made suitable for protective fabrics, without compromising their surface properties, by plasma treatment, due to cold plasma’s ecologically benign nature compared to the conventional methods, such as wet, chemical, and mechanical finishes. As a result, plasma treatment is a crucial approach for creating and improving textile production methods and progressing toward resource-efficient, sustainable practices with added economic value.

During the preparation and modification of the surface of textiles, plasma treatment offers an advantage over the conventional pretreatment and finishing processes, since the former is carried out without the use of water and chemicals, some of which are highly toxic to the environment. This enables cost savings and environment-friendly processes.

The industries analyzed here are:

• Polymer & Plastic Industry (Largest Category)
  • Surface Treatment
  • Printing
  • Adhesion
• Textile Industry (Fastest-Growing Category)
  • Finishing
  • Dyeing/Printing
  • Sterilization
• Electronic & Semiconductors Industry
  • Coating
  • Etching
  • Thin Film Deposition
• Food Industry & Agriculture
  • Packaging Decontamination
  • Food Surface Decontamination
  • Wastewater Treatment
  • Seed Germination
• Medical Industry
  • Wound Healing
  • Cancer Treatment
  • Dentistry
  • Blood Coagulation

Regime Analysis

The atmospheric cold plasma category held the larger market share, of 65%, in 2024. This is because it has shown promising results in eczema treatment. Researchers from the Institute of Plasma Physics Chinese Academy of Sciences used an animal model to demonstrate the potential of this technology in the treatment of eczema with no side-effect. There is no cure for atopic dermatitis, another term of eczema, till now; it can be only managed with proper care.

Further, the low-pressure cold plasma category is expected to witness the higher rate of advance during the forecast period. This technology has antimicrobial activity and thus, could be a promising method to reduce contamination. For instance, it was concluded in recent research that the usage of argon-and-helium cold plasma to inactivate microorganisms could enable effective bio-decontamination.

The Regimes analyzed here are:

• Atmospheric (Largest Category)
• Low-Pressure (Fastest-Growing Category)

Application Analysis

The wound healing category held the larger market share, of 35%, in 2024, and it will grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. This is because researchers have been using cold plasma to speed up the healing of external wounds for some time now. This technique relies on creating a high-voltage drop between a special device called the plasmaDerm and the skin.

Similarly, scientists in Russia have found that the treatment of cells with cold plasma leads to their rejuvenation and regeneration. According to this study, the results can be useful for the treatment of patients with chronic wounds. In this regard, the increase in the number of physical trauma cases across the globe is driving the need for the cold plasma technology in the healthcare industry.

Cold plasma is also used for adhesion purposes. For instance, a scientist from Spain showed how polyoxymethylene can be a good material for 3D printing when applied on a polycarbonate printing base. Based on this observation, the researcher proposed the use of the cold atmospheric plasma treatment to enhance adhesion.

The applications analyzed here are:

• Adhesion
• Printing
• Wound Healing (Largest and Fastest-Growing Category)

Cold Plasma Market Geographical Analysis

North America accounted for the largest share, of 30%, in 2024, and it is expected to advance with a significant CAGR during the forecast period. This is due to the increase in the healthcare expenditure and R&D activities. Moreover, the U.S. government has increased its budget for cancer research. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 allocated USD 7.3 billion to the NCI, which was a USD 408 million increase over the FY 2022 grant, including USD 216 million for the aspects of the Cancer Moonshot program being overseen by the NCI.

The Census Bureau says 55.8 million people in the U.S. were aged 65 or more in 2020. Further studies suggest that 1 in 5 people in the country will fall in this age group by 2040. The growing geriatric population is a major driver for this market in the region as they develop wounds easily, which do not heal as quickly.

The regions and countries analyzed in this report are:

• North America (Largest and Fastest-Growing Region)
  • U.S. (Larger Country)
  • Canada (Faster-Growing Country)
• Europe
  • Germany (Largest Region)
  • U.K.
  • France
  • Italy (Fastest-Growing Country)
  • Russia
  • Rest of Europe
• Asia-Pacific
  • China (Largest Country)
  • India (Fastest-Growing Country)
  • Japan
  • South Korea
  • Australia
  • Rest of APAC
• Latin America
  • Brazil (Largest Country)
  • Mexico (Fastest-Growing Country)
  • Rest of LATAM
• Middle East and Africa
  • Saudi Arabia (Largest Country)
  • South Africa
  • U.A.E. (Fastest-Growing Country)
  • Rest of MEA

Cold Plasma Market Share

The market is fragmented in nature because players serve a wide range of industries, such as healthcare, electronics, textiles, and food processing, each with its own specific requirements and standards. These sectors use different cold plasma technologies, which encourages the entry of multiple players and, thus, divides the market. There are also numerous small and medium-size participants in the market catering to niche applications and provide customized solutions. The regional differences in adoption and the lack of global standardization also contribute to this fragmentation.

Cold Plasma Market News & Updates

• In January 2025, Surfx Technologies LLC discussed advancements in atmospheric argon plasma and its applications in semiconductor packaging, particularly for 3D chip stacking, at the IMAPS Device Packaging Conference in Phoenix, Arizona.
• In June 2023, the Jerome Canady Research Institute for Advanced Biological and Technological Sciences (JCRI-ABTS) and USMI reported positive results from the Phase 1 clinical trial of the Canady Helios Cold Plasma system on patients with stage 4 and recurrent, advanced solid tumors.