A comparative study on the spectral characteristics of nanosecond pulsed discharges in atmospheric He and a He+2.3%H_(2)O mixture

Nanosecond pulsed discharges at atmospheric pressure in a pin-to-pin electrode configuration are well reproducible in time and space, which is beneficial to the fundamentals and applications of low-temperature plasmas. In this experiment, the discharges in helium(He) and He with 2.3%water vapor(H_(2)O) are driven by a series of 10 ns overvoltage pulses(~13 k V). Special attention is paid to the spectral characteristics obtained in the center of discharges by time-resolved optical emission spectroscopy. It is found that in helium, the emission of atomic and molecular helium during the afterglow is more intense than that in the active discharge, while in the He+2.3%H_(2)O mixture, helium emission is only observed during the discharge pulse and the molecular helium emission disappears. In addition, the emissions of OH(A-X) and Hα present similar behavior that increases sharply during the falling edge of the voltage pulse as the electrons cool down rapidly. The gas temperature is set to remain low at 540 K by fitting the OH(A-X) band. A comparative study on the emission of radiative species(He, He_(2), OH and H)is performed between these two discharge cases to derive their main production mechanisms. In both cases, the dominant primary ion is He^(+) at the onset of discharges, but their He^(+) charge transfer processes are quite different. Based on these experimental data and a qualitative discussion on the discharge kinetics, with regard to the present discharge conditions, it is shown that the electron-assisted three-body recombination processes appear to be the significant sources of radiative OH and H species in high-density plasmas.

Nanosecond Repetitively Pulsed Dielectric Barrier Discharge in Air at Atmospheric Pressure

Dielectric barrier discharge （DBD） between two cylindrical glass containers with salt water generated by a nanosecond repetitively pulsed power generator is reported. The electrical parameters, luminous images and spectrum diagnosis are presented. It is shown that the DBD possesses a large discharge current and an intense optical emission from the nitrogen second positive system below 400 nm. The gas temperature remains very close to room temperature regardless of pulse polarity. Luminous photographs with a short exposure time down to 2 ns indicate that no filament is observed and the discharge is homogeneous.

Effects of Oxygen Concentration on Pulsed Dielectric Barrier Discharge in Helium-Oxygen Mixture at Atmospheric Pressure

In this work the effects of O_2 concentration on the pulsed dielectric barrier discharge in helium-oxygen mixture at atmospheric pressure have been numerically researched by using a one-dimensional fluid model in conjunction with the chosen key species and chemical reactions.The reliability of the used model has been examined by comparing the calculated discharge current with the reported experiments. The present work presents the following significant results. The dominative positive and negative particles are He_2~＋ and O_2^-, respectively, the densities of the reactive oxygen species（ROS） get their maxima nearly at the central position of the gap, and the density of the ground state O is highest in the ROS. The increase of O_2 concentration results in increasingly weak discharge and the time lag of the ignition. For O_2 concentrations below 1.1%,the density of O is much higher than other species, the averaged dissipated power density presents an evident increase for small O_2 concentration and then the increase becomes weak. In particular,the total density of the reactive oxygen species reaches its maximums at the O_2 concentration of about 0.5%. This characteristic further convinces the experimental observation that the O_2 concentration of 0.5% is an optimal O_2/He ratio in the inactivation of bacteria and biomolecules when radiated by using the plasmas produced in a helium oxygen mixture.

Spatial characteristics of nanosecond pulsed micro-discharges in atmospheric pressure He/H2O mixture by optical emission spectroscopy

Atmospheric pressure micro-discharges in helium gas with a mixture of 0.5%water vapor between two pin electrodes are generated with nanosecond overvoltage pulses.The temporal and spatial characteristics of the discharges are investigated by means of time-resolved imaging and optical emission spectroscopy with respect to the discharge morphology,gas temperature,electron density,and excited species.The evolution of micro-discharges is captured by intensified CCD camera and electrical properties.The gas temperature is diagnosed by a two-temperature fit to the ro-vibrational OH(A^(2)Σ^(+)–X^П(2),0–0)emission band and is found to remain low at 425 K during the discharge pulses.The profile of electron density performed by the Stark broadening of Ha 656.1-nm and He I 667.8-nm lines is uniform across the discharge gap at the initial of discharge and reaches as high as 10^(23)m^(-3).The excited species of He,OH,and H show different spatio-temporal behaviors from each other by the measurement of their emission intensities,which are discussed qualitatively in regard of their plasma kinetics.

Experimental Investigation of Effects of Electric Operating Parameters on Pulsed Corona Discharges in Humid Air at Atmospheric Pressure

The present work is devoted to electrical and optical study of a point-plane atmospheric pressure corona discharge reactor in humid air powered by pulsed high voltage supply. The corona current and the injected energy are analyzed as a function of several parameters such as applied voltage and humidity rate. Then, investigations based on emission spectroscopy analysis were used in UV range (from 200 nm to about 400 nm). The main observed excited species were the second positive (SPS), the first negative (FNS) systems and OH(A-X) rotational bands. The latter band was used to simulate the rotational temperature (Tr), whereas the N2+ (FNS) band was used to determine the vibrational temperature (Tv). The electron temperature (Te ) is determined from the ratio of line intensities of the spectral bands of both N2+ FNS at 391.4 nm and N2SPS at 394.4 nm. The rotational, vibrational and electronic temperatures are analyzed as a function of above parameters (applied voltage, frequency and hygrometry rate) near the anodic tip. As well we study the axial variation of electronic temperature for a fixed applied voltage at 6.4 kV, frequency at 10 kHz and 100% of humidity. It is found that the rotational, vibrational and electronic temperatures increased with increasing applied voltage, frequency and humidity rate. The increase of rate hygrometry for an inter-electrode distance fixed at 10 mm causes an increase in both the amplitude of the corona current discharge and the energy injected in corona discharge. This is indicative of more intense reactive plasma while increasing hygrometry rate.

Sub-microsecond Pulsed Atmospheric-pressure Glow Discharge with Bare Metal Electrodes

In order to better understand the physical mechanism of sub-microsecond pulsed glow discharge with bare metal electrodes,using a one-dimensional self-consistent fluid model,the properties of the discharge at atmospheric pressure are numerically studied.The results show that,a discharge without dielectric layers,i.e.a barrier free discharge,is extinguished only with the decrease of the applied voltage.Only one positive discharge event occurs at the slope of the pulsed voltage.A stable glow of barrier free discharge can be achieved only in short durations of the pulsed voltage.The barrier free discharge always starts with a subnormal glow discharge and then evolves into a normal glow discharge.Moreover,to control the discharge stabilization better,the effects of pulse repetition frequency,pulse duration,rising(front) and falling(slope) times on the discharge characteristics are investigated systematically.It is found that the discharge is comparatively more sensitive to the repetition frequency and the pulse duration,while little affected by the rising and falling times.

Generation of X-ray Emission in Repetitive Nanosecond-pulse Discharge at Atmospheric Pressure

Pulsed discharges can generate high power densities and high equivalent electric fields in plasma to emit X-rays,which is closely related to discharge mechanism.In this paper,discharge characteristics and X-ray emission of typical nanosecond-pulse discharges(corona,diffuse,spark or arc)are reviewed.Especially,the diffuse discharges are observed at pulse repetition frequencies up to 1 kHz.Factors influencing the discharge characteristics and X-ray emission are analyzed,such as the gap spacing,parameters of the applied pulse(amplitude,pulse repetition frequency),anode and cathode materials,and curvature radius of cathode.It is concluded that the maximum X-ray intensity is obtained in a diffuse discharge,and the X-ray intensity is affected by the pulse repetition frequency,applied voltage,anode material,and curvature radius of cathode.For example,X-ray intensity increases with the pulse repetition frequency and the atomic numbers of the anode material,but it decrease with the increase of curvature radius.It is also shown that the cathode material has no obvious influence on the X-ray intensity.

Effect of Duty Cycle on the Characteristics of Pulse-Modulhted Radio-Frequency Atmospheric Pressure Dielectric Barrier Discharge

Using a one-dimensional fluid model, the pulse-modulated radio-frequency dielectric barrier discharge in atmospheric helium is described. The influences of the pulse duty cycle on the discharge characteristics are studied. The numerical results show that the dependence of discharge characteristics on the duty cycle is sensitive in the region of around 40% duty cycle under the given simulation parameters. In the case of a larger duty cycle, the plasma density is higher, the discharge becomes more intense, but the power consumption is higher. When the duty cycle is lower, one can get a weaker discharge, lower plasma density and higher electron temperature in the bulk plasma. In practical applications, in order to get a higher plasma density and a lower power consumption, it is more important to choose a suitable duty cycle to modulate the RF power supply.

Effects of the transverse electric field on nanosecond pulsed dielectric barrier discharge in atmospheric airflow

In this paper,an asymmetric electrode geometry(the misalignment between the ends of highvoltage and grounded electrodes)is proposed in order to investigate the effects of the transverse electric field on nanosecond pulsed dielectric barrier discharge(DBD).The results show that diffuse discharge manifests in the misaligned region and the micro-discharge channel in the aligned region moves directionally.Moreover,the diffuse discharge area increases with the decrease of the discharge gap and pulse repetition frequency,which is consistent with the variation of the moving velocity of the micro-discharge channel.When airflow is introduced into the discharge gap in the same direction as the transverse electric field,the dense filamentary discharge region at the airflow inlet of asymmetric electrode geometry is larger than that of symmetric electrode geometry.However,when the direction of the airflow is opposite to that of the transverse electric field,the dense filamentary discharge region of asymmetric electrode geometry is reduced.The above phenomena are mainly attributed to the redistribution of the space charges induced by the transverse electric field.

Transition of Streamer, Corona and Glow Discharges in Needle-to-plane Dielectric Barrier Discharge at Atmospheric Pressure Air

To discuss the modes of dielectric barrier discharge(DBD) between needle-to-plane electrodes in air,DBD is generated and observed on a needle-to-plane device at atmospheric pressure air.Fast images of the DBD are taken by using a charge couple device(CCD) cinema with a macro lens,while the electrical and photo-electricity waveforms of the DBD are recorded.The current waveforms show that under an applied voltage of 3 kV,there are numerous short current pulses in both positive and negative half-periods of discharges.However,under 6 kV,there are still the numerous short current pulses in the positive half-periods,but only one wide current pulse in each negative half-period.This difference is also found in the photoelectric signals.The streamer,corona and glow discharges are observed from the images of the discharges at different applied voltages.The structure of glow discharge in the negative period is exactly the same as that of the low pressure glow discharge.However,in the positive period of discharge there is always a streamer.In the negative period of discharge,while the applied voltage increases,the transition from corona to glow discharge is observed.The progress of a transition between streamer and glow discharge at 6 kV during one period is analyzed.The glow discharge appearance is determined by two factors: the discharge current is limited to a certain extent by the dielectric layer; the charges deposited on the dielectric layer during the last half period enhance the intensity of the electric field.At an insufficient applied voltage,the cathode drop leads to no glow discharge,but Trichel pulses.

Generation of Atmospheric Pressure Plasma by Repetitive Nanosecond Pulses in Air Using Water Electrodes

Dielectric barrier discharge （DBD） excitated by pulsed power is a promising method for producing nonthermal plasma at atmospheric pressure. Discharge characteristic in a DBD with salt water as electrodes by a home-made unipolar nanosecond-pulse power source is presented in this paper. The generator is capable of providing repetitive pulses with the voltage up to 30 kV and duration of 70 ns at a 300 Ω resistive load. Applied voltage and discharge current are measured under various experimental conditions. The DBD created between two liquid electrodes shows that the discharge is homogeneous and diffuse in the whole discharge regime, Spectra diagnosis is conducted by an optical emission spectroscopy. The air plasma has strong emission from nitrogen species below 400 nm, notably the nitrogen second positive system.

Characteristic plume morphologies of atmospheric Ar and He plasma jets excited by a pulsed microwave hairpin resonator

Different discharge morphologies in atmospheric Ar and He plasmas are excited by using a pulsed microwave hairpin resonator.Ar plasmas form an arched plasma plume at the opened end of the hairpin,whereas He plumes generate only a contracted plasmas in between both tips of metal electrodes.Despite this different point,their discharge processes have three similar characteristics:(i)the ionization occurs at the main electrode firstly and then develops to the slave electrode,(ii)during the shrinking stage the middle domain of the discharge channels disappears at last,and(iii)even at zero power input(in between pulses)a weak light region always exists in the discharge channels.Both experimental results and electromagnetic simulations suggest that the discharge is resonantly excited by the local enhanced electric fields.In addition,Ar ionization and excitation energies are lower than those of He,the effect of Ar gas flow is far greater than that of He gas,and the contribution of accelerated electrons only locates at the domain with the strongest electric fields.These reasons could be used to interpret the different characteristic plume morphologies of the proposed atmospheric Ar and He plasmas.

Investigation of NO removal using a pulseassisted RF discharge

In this paper,removal of nitrogen oxide（NO） is investigated in capacitive atmospheric pressure discharges driven by both radio-frequency（RF） and trapezoidal pulsed power with a onedimensional self-consistent fluid model.The results show that the number density of NO could be reduced significantly once a short pulse of low duty ratio is additionally applied to the RF power.It is found that the process of NO removal by the pulse-modulated RF discharge could be divided into three stages：the quick reaction stage,the NO removal stage,and the sustaining stage.Furthermore,the temporal evolution of particle densities is analyzed,and the key reactions in each stage are discovered.Finally,the influence on the removal efficiency of the voltage amplitude of the pulse and the RF voltage amplitude is investigated.

Numerical study on the gas heating mechanism in pulse-modulated radio-frequency glow discharge

The gas heating mechanism in the pulse-modulated radio-frequency （rf） discharge at atmospheric pressure was inves- tigated with a one-dimensional two-temperature fluid model. Firstly, the spatiotemporal profiles of the gas temperature （Tg） in both consistent rf discharge and pulse-modulated rf discharge were compared. The results indicated that Tg decreases considerably with the pulse-modulated power, and the elastic collision mechanism plays a more important role in the gas heating change. Secondly, the influences of the duty cycle on the discharge parameters, especially on the Tg, were studied. It was found that Tg decreases almost linearly with the reduction of the duty cycle, and there exists one ideal value of the duty cycle, by which both the Tg can be adjusted and the glow mode can be sustained. Thirdly, the discharge mode changing from αto γ mode in the pulse-modulated rf discharge was investigated, the spatial distributions of Tg in the two modes show different features and the ion Joule heating is more important during the mode transition.

Filament Discharge Phenomena in Fingerprint Acquisition by Dielectric Barrier Discharge

In this paper, the dielectric barrier discharge fingerprint acquisition technique is introduced. The filament discharge phenomena were observed in the process of fingerprint acquisition. The filament discharge reduced the quality of fingerprint images. Obviously, it was necessary to eliminate streamer discharges in order to get good fingerprint images. The streamer discharge was considered to be the cause of the filament discharge in the experiment. The relationship between the critical electric field and the discharge gap was calculated with the Raether＇s model of streamer discharge. The calculated results and our experiment proved that it would be difficult for the streamer discharge to occur when the discharge gap was narrow. With a narrow discharge gap, the discharge was homogeneous, and the fingerprint images were clear and large in area. The images obtained in the experiment are very suitable for fingerprint identification as they contain more information.

脉冲驱动等离子体射流中活性粒子空间分布规律

为探究大气压脉冲驱动等离子体射流中活性粒子空间分布特性,采用同轴双环等离子体射流反应器,在外施脉冲激励驱动下,研究各活性粒子在不同电离段的特征峰相对强度沿轴向空间的变化规律。结果表明:在脉冲激励等离子体射流所有测量点位均能检测到NO、OH、N_(2)、N_(2)^(+)、He等活性粒子特征峰,其中以OH、N_(2)、N_(2)^(+)粒子所对应的发射光谱谱带及特征峰较为显著;在高压电极和接地电极之间的电场驱动电离段,活性粒子NO、OH、N_(2)的特征峰相对强度在靠近高压电极和接地电极区域较高,而在两电极中间的区域相对强度较低,不同激发能级He、N_(2)^(+)特征峰相对强度沿气流方向逐渐降低;在接地电极至反应器管口的半开放离子激发段,活性粒子NO、OH以及不同能级N_(2)、N_(2)^(+)、He特征峰的相对强度轴向分布呈现出随着气流方向逐渐降低的趋势;在反应器管口至等离子体射流末端区域的开放离子激发段,活性粒子OH、NO与不同能级He特征峰的相对强度轴向分布随气体流动方向逐渐减弱,不同能级N_(2)、N_(2)^(+)特征峰的相对强度呈现出先增后减的规律,为脉冲驱动等离子体射流能量传递过程与反应机理的深入研究提供支撑。

大气压等离子体射流放电参数对沉积氧化钛薄膜特性的影响

大气压等离子体增强化学气相沉积(AP-PECVD)功能薄膜技术受到广泛的关注,但等离子体的作用机理仍有待进一步探讨。利用针-板电极大气压电晕Ar等离子体射流,在不同放电频率条件下,对单、双脉冲的放电参数及沉积TiO_(2)薄膜的性质进行比较,阐明了脉冲放电特性对等离子体参数和TiO_(2)薄膜生长的影响,进而推断AP-PECVD中等离子体的作用机理。结果表明:单个电压周期内,放电电流呈稳定的单脉冲或双脉冲,电晕等离子体射流区域呈均匀弥散分布,沉积的氧化钛薄膜均匀致密;其他条件相同的情况下,双脉冲放电极间平均耗散功率、等离子体气体温度大于单脉冲放电,并且等离子体区域发光显著增强,发射光谱计算得到大气压等离子体射流电子激发温度约8000 K,双脉冲等离子体射流电子温度略高于单脉冲等离子体射流。对于薄膜生长,双脉冲放电薄膜沉积速率比单脉冲放电大,沉积的薄膜更加致密,亲水性更强。由于等离子体参数上的差异,在钛酸异丙酯解离过程和TiO_(2)薄膜形成时的表面扩散过程中,双脉冲等离子体射流比单脉冲射流贡献更大,有利于快速沉积更致密、亲水性更高的氧化钛薄膜。

大气压脉冲级联放电快速制备超疏水耐久涂层

通过大气压脉冲级联放电(APPCD)等离子体的聚合交联作用,在涤纶织物表面快速制备兼具耐久性和自修复能力的超疏水涂层。深入研究不同等离子体放电源对涂层表面疏水性、耐久性及稳定性的影响。结果表明:APPCD等离子体制备的超疏水涂层表面水接触角可达163.2°,滚动角低至8.4°,样品经600次摩擦或250次水洗后仍可保持超疏水性;超疏水涂层表面弹性模量的变化是影响涂层机械牢度的主要原因;制备的超疏水涂层具有良好的可修复性,加热修复可使出现一定磨损的织物恢复疏水性。研究可为超疏水涂层的工业推广提供试验基础和技术支持。

空气中纳秒脉冲均匀介质阻挡放电研究

大气压空气中均匀介质阻挡放电具有广泛的应用前景,实现均匀放电是介质阻挡放电应用关键之一,因而利用上升沿40ns,脉宽70ns的重复频率纳秒脉冲电源激励在大气压空气中产生介质阻挡放电,介绍了纳秒脉冲均匀介质阻挡放电的电特性和放电图像及放电发射光谱,获得了2ns曝光时间的高速摄影放电图像。发现空气中1mm气隙距离下可以实现均匀放电,气隙距离增加至4mm时放电转变为明显的丝状放电,通过观察发射光谱显示等离子体谱线主要是来自400nm以下的氮分子第二正系。结果证实了大气压空气中利用ns脉冲激励可以产生稳定介质阻挡放电,且能实现均匀放电,是典型非平衡态低温等离子体。

大气压空气中重复频率纳秒脉冲气体放电模式研究

利用上升沿100ns、脉宽150ns的单级磁压缩纳秒脉冲电源,通过电压电流测量和放电图像拍摄实验,研究了大气压空气中极不均匀电场结构重复频率纳秒脉冲气体放电的放电模式。结果表明纳秒脉冲气体放电存在三种典型的放电模式:电晕放电、弥散放电和火花放电。施加的脉冲电压幅值对放电模式影响显著,随着电压幅值的增加,放电依次经历电晕、弥散和火花放电。固定电压幅值时,放电可能同时存在两种模式。重复频率加强了放电强度,弥散放电的激发电压随重复频率的增加变化不大,但火花放电的激发电压随着重复频率的增加而降低。因此降低重复频率有利于在较大电压范围获得大气压空气弥散放电。