Large‐Scale Applications of Plasma Technologies: Progresses and Challenges

Plasma technologies convert electrical power into energetic electrons, ions, reactive species, radiation and heat, thereby breaking through the bottleneck of purely thermal or chemical routes and bringing impressive changes to our world. This roadmap reviews the progress and challenges of plasma technologies from a large‐scale and application‐driven perspective. It covers plasma–material interaction (i.e., surface modification, material preparation and semiconductor processing), aerospace applications (i.e., plasma propulsion, plasma‐assisted aerodynamics, plasma‐assisted ignition and combustion), applications in the energy field (i.e., industrial arc discharge, plasma catalysis for decarbonisation including CO 2 conversion, nitrogen fixation and hydrogen‐related processes, and plasma‐enabled resource recovery) and applications related to human health (i.e., biomedicine, plasma disinfection/sterilisation, agriculture and food). We also present a unified cross‐comparison of mainstream plasma sources and practical selection guidelines. Beyond reviewing these advances, this roadmap argues that the large‐scale deployment of plasma technologies will be governed by four constraints: controllability of plasma parameters and discharge modes during scale‐up, system‐level energy efficiency from grid to outcome, long‐term reliability and maintainability in realistic environments, and outcome‐relevant diagnostics and harmonised benchmarking. The authors hope this roadmap will enrich the track record and enable cutting‐edge advances in plasma technologies over the next 5–10 years.