Atmospheric Pressure Cold Argon/Oxygen Plasma Jet Assisted by Preionization of Syringe Needle Electrode

An atmospheric pressure nonequilibrium argon/oxygen plasma jet assisted by the preionization of syringe needle electrode discharge is reported. With the syringe needle plasma as its pre-ionization source, the hybrid barrier-jet was shown to generate uniform discharge with a lower breakdown voltage and a relatively low gas temperature varying from 390 to 440 ºK, even when the vol. % oxygen in argon was up to 6%. Utilizing the actinometry method, the concentration of atomic oxygen was estimated to be about in an orders of magnitude of 1017/cm3. The argon/oxygen plasma jet was then employed to clean out heat transfer oil, with a maximum cleaning rate of 0.1 mm/s achieved.     

Observation of the Emission Spectra of an Atmospheric Pressure Radio-frequency Plasma Jet

An atmospheric pressure plasma jet （APPJ） using radio-frequency （13.56 MHz） power has been developed to produce homogeneous glow discharge at low temperature. With optical emission spectroscopy, we observed the excited species （atomic helium, atomic oxygen and metastable oxygen） generated in this APPJ and their dependence on gas composition ratio and RF power. O and O2（b1∑g^＋） are found in the effluent outside the jet by measuring the emission spectra of effluent perpendicular to the jet. An interesting phenomenon is found that there is an abnormal increase of O emission intensity （777.4 nm） between 10 mm and 40 mm away from the nozzle. This observation result is very helpful in practical operation.     

Three modes of a direct-current plasma jet operated underwater to degrade methylene blue

A direct-current air plasma jet operated underwater presents three stable modes including an intermittently-pulsed discharge, a periodically-pulsed discharge and a continuous discharge with increasing the power voltage. The three discharge modes have different appearances for the plasma plumes. Moreover, gap voltage-current characteristics indicate that the continuous discharge is in a normal glow regime. Spectral lines from reactive species(OH, N_2, N_2~+, H_α,and O) have been revealed in the emission spectrum of the plasma jet operated underwater.Spectral intensities emitted from OH radical and oxygen atom increase with increasing the power voltage or the gas flow rate, indicating that reactive species are abundant. These reactive species cause the degradation of the methylene blue dye in solution. Effects of the experimental parameters such as the power voltage, the gas flow rate and the treatment time are investigated on the degradation efficiency. Results indicate that the degradation efficiency increases with increasing the power voltage, the gas flow rate or the treatment time. Compared with degradation in the intermittently-pulsed mode or the periodically-pulsed one, it is more efficient in the continuous mode, reaching 98% after 21 min treatment.     

Quantitative Determination of Density of Ground State Atomic Oxygen from Both TALIF and Emission Spectroscopy in Hot Air Plasma Generated by Microwave Resonant Cavity

Two experimental techniques have been used to quantify the atomic oxygen density in the case of hot air plasma generated by a microwave (MW) resonant cavity. The latter operates at a frequency of 2.45 GHz inside a cell of gas conditioning at a pressure of 600 mbar, an injected air flow of 12 L/min and an input MW power of 1 kW. The first technique is based on the standard two photon absorption laser induced fluorescence (TALIF) using xenon for calibration but applied for the first time in the present post discharge hot air plasma column having a temperature of about 4500 K near the axis of the nozzle. The second diagnostic technique is an actinometry method based on optical emission spectroscopy (OES). In this case, we compared the spectra intensities of a specific atomic oxygen line (844 nm) and the closest wavelength xenon line (823 nm). The two lines need to be collected under absolutely the same spectroscopic parameters. The xenon emission is due to the addition of a small proportion of xenon (1% Xe) of this chemically inert gas inside the air while a further small quantity of H₂ (2%) is also added in the mixture in order to collect OH(A¬X) and NH(A-X) spectra without noise. The latter molecular spectra are required to estimate gas and excitation temperatures. Optical emission spectroscopy measurements, at for instance the position z=12 mm on the axis plasma column that leads to a gas measured temperature equal to 3500 K, an excitation temperature of about 9500 K and an atomic oxygen density 2.09×1017± 0.2×10¹⁷ cm ⁻³ . This is in very good agreement with the TALIF measurement, which is equal to 2.0×10¹⁷ cm ⁻³ .     

Trace-Rare-Gas Optical Emission Spectroscopy of Nitrogen Plasma Generated at a Frequency of 13.56 MHz

Optical emission spectroscopic measurement of trace rare gas is carried out to determine the density of nitrogen (N) atom, in a nitrogen plasma, as a function of filling pressure and RF power applied. 2% of argon, used as an actinometer, is mixed with nitrogen. In order to normalize the changes in the excitation cross section and electron energy distribution function at different operational conditions, the Ar-I emission line at 419.83 nm is used, which is of nearly the same excitation efficiency coefficients as that of the nitrogen emission line at 493.51 nm. It is observed that the emission intensity of the selected argon and atomic nitrogen lines increases with both pressure and RF power, as does the nitrogen atomic density.     

Effects of Gas Flow Rate on the Discharge Characteristics of a DC Excited Plasma Jet

A direct current(DC) source excited plasma jet consisting of a hollow needle anode and a plate cathode has been developed to form a diffuse discharge plume in ambient air with flowing argon as the working gas.Using optical and electrical methods,the discharge characteristics are investigated for the diffuse plasma plume.Results indicate that the discharge has a pulse characteristic,under the excitation of a DC voltage.The discharge pulse corresponds to the propagation process of a plasma bullet travelling from the anode to the cathode.It is found that,with an increment of the gas flow rate,both the discharge plume length and the current peak value of the pulsed discharge decrease in the laminar flow mode,reach their minima at about1.5 L/min,and then slightly increase in the turbulent mode.However,the frequency of the pulsed discharge increases in the laminar mode with increasing the argon flow rate until the argon flow rate equals to about 1.5 L/min,and then slightly decreases in the turbulent mode.     

Study of axial double layer in helicon plasma by optical emission spectroscopy and simple probe

In this work we used a passive measurement method based on a high-impedance electrostatic probe and an optical emission spectroscope (OES) to investigate the characteristics of the double layer (DL) in an argon helicon plasma.The DL can be confirmed by a rapid change in the plasma potential along the axis.The axial potential variation of the passive measurement shows that the DL forms near a region of strong magnetic field gradient when the plasma is operated in wavecoupled mode,and the DL strength increases at higher powers in this experiment.The emission intensity of the argon atom line,which is strongly dependent on the metastable atom concentration,shows a similar spatial distribution to the plasma potential along the axis.The emission intensity of the argon atom line and the argon ion line in the DL suggests the existence of an energetic electron population upstream of the DL.The electron density upstream is much higher than that downstream,which is mainly caused by these energetic electrons.     

Characteristics of Single Cathode Cascaded Bias Voltage Arc Plasma

A single cathode with a cascaded bias voltage arc plasma source has been developed with a new quartz cathode chamber,instead of the previous copper chambers,to provide better diagnostic observation and access to the plasma optical emission.The cathode chamber cooling scheme is also modified to be naturally cooled only by light emission without cooling water to improve the optical thin performance in the optical path.A single-parameter physical model has been developed to describe the power dissipated in the cascaded bias voltage arc discharge argon plasmas,which have been investigated by utilizing optical emission spectroscopy(OES) and Langmuir probe.In the experiments,discharge currents from 50 A to 100 A,argon flow rates from 800 sccm to 2000 sccm and magnetic fields of 0.1 T and 0.2 T were chosen.The results show:(a) the relationship between the averaged resistivity and the averaged current density exhibits an empirical scaling law as η∝ j~(-0.63369) and the power dissipated in the arc has a strong relation with the filling factor;(b) through the quartz,the argon ions optical emission lines have been easily observed and are dominating with wavelengths between 340 nm and 520 nm,which are the emissions of Ar~+-434.81 nm and Ar~+-442.60 nm line,and theintensities are increasing with the arc current and decreasing with the inlet argon flow rate;and(c) the electron density and temperature can reach 2.0 × 10~(19) m~(-3) and 0.48 eV,respectively,under the conditions of an arc current of 90 A and a magnetic field of 0.2 T.The half-width of the n_e radial profile is approximatively equal to a few Larmor radii of electrons and can be regarded as the diameter of the plasma jet in the experiments.     

Influence of air addition on surface modification of polyethylene terephthalate treated by an atmospheric pressure argon plasma brush

An atmospheric pressure argon plasma brush with air addition is employed to treat polyethylene terephthalate(PET) surface in order to improve its hydrophilicity. Results indicate that the plasma plume generated by the plasma brush presents periodically pulsed current despite a direct current voltage is applied. Voltage-current curve reveals that there is a transition from a Townsend discharge regime to a glow one during one discharge period. Optical emission spectrum indicates that more oxygen atoms are produced in the plume with increasing air content, which leads to the better hydrophilicity of PET surface after plasma treatment. Besides,an aging behavior is also observed. The hydrophilicity improvement is attributed to the production of oxygen functional groups, which increase in number with increasing air content.Moreover, some grain-like structures are observed on the treated PET surface, and its mean roughness increases with increasing air content. These results are of great importance for the hydrophilicity improvement of PET surface with a large scale.     

Investigation of non-thermal atmospheric plasma for the degradation of avermectin solution

Increasing concern with regard to food safety in the presence of pesticide residues(PRs) on the surface of agricultural products has resulted in the rapid development of practical degrading technologies for corresponding PRs. In this paper, an unconventional method of degrading pesticides, non-thermal atmospheric plasma(NTAP), was proposed to degrade the avermectin(AVM) in aqueous solution. Optical emission spectroscopy shows that NTAP, consisting of filamentary streamers, contains a variety of reactive oxygen species(ROS) that may interact with AVM. The high-performance liquid chromatography(HPLC)-MS/MS results indicate that the efficiency of AVM degradation seriously depends on multiple operation parameters of the NTAP,including the applied voltage, treatment time and gas flow rate. The maximum degradation rate of AVM was observed to be 97.47% after 240 s exposure under NTAP with an applied voltage of 18 kV and gas flow rate of 1 l min~(-1). Molecular dynamics simulation based on a reactive force field for the interaction between O(ground state atomic oxygen) and AVM was performed to analyze the underpinning mechanisms. The simulation result shows the possible pathways of the NTAPgenerated O degrading AVM by destroying the glycosyl group or fracturing the ester group.     

Influence of Ambient Gas on Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy of Uranium Metal

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is regarded as a suitable method for the remote analysis of materials in any phase, even in an environment with high radiation levels. In the present work we used the third harmonic pulse of a Nd:YAG laser for ablation of uranium metal and measured the plasma emission with a fiber-optic spectrometer. The LIBS spectra of uranium metal and their features in different ambient gases (i.e., argon, neon, oxygen, and nitrogen) at atmospheric pressure were studied. Strong continuum spectrum and several hundreds of emission lines from UI and UII were observed. It is found that the continuum spectrum observed in uranium not only comes from bremsstrahlung emission but is also due to the complex spectrum of uranium. The influence of ambient gas and the gas flow rate for ablation of uranium metal was investigated. The experimental results indicate that the intensity of the uranium lines was enhanced in argon and nitrogen. However, the intensity of uranium lines was decreased in oxygen due to the generation of UO and other oxides. The results also showed that the highest intensity of uranium lines were obtained in argon gas with a gas flow rate above 2.5 L/min. The enhanced mechanism in ambient gas and the influence of the gas flow rate were analyzed in this work.     

Numerical study of atmospheric-pressure argon plasma jet propagating into ambient nitrogen

A 2D axial symmetry fluid model is applied to study the features of an atmospheric-pressure argon (Ar) plasma jet propagating into ambient nitrogen (N₂) driven by a pulsed voltage, emphasizing the influence of gas velocity on the dynamic characteristics of the jet. The results show that the Ar jet exhibits a cylindrical-shaped channel and the jet channel gradually shrinks with the increase in propagation length. The jet propagation velocity varies with time. Inside the dielectric tube, the plasma jet accelerates propagation and reaches its maximum value near the nozzle. Exiting the tube, its velocity quickly decreases and when approaching the metal plane, the decrease in jet velocity slows down. The increase in gas speed results in the variation of jet spatial distribution. The electron density presents a solid structure at lower gas flow speeds, whereas an annular structure can be observed under the higher gas flow velocity in the ionization head. The jet length increases with the flow velocity. However, when the flow velocity exceeds a critical value, the increase in the rate of the plasma jet length slows down. In addition, the gas velocity effect on the generation and transport of the reactive particles is also studied and discussed.     

Analysis of an Ar plasma jet in a dielectric barrier discharge conjugated with a microsecond pulse

In this work, an Ar plasma jet generated by an AC-microsecond-pulse-driven dielectric barrier discharge reactor, which had two ring-shaped electrodes isolated from the ambient atmosphere by transformer oil, was investigated. By special design of the oil insulation, a chemically active Ar plasma jet along with a safe and stable plasma process as well as low emission of CO and NO_x were successfully achieved. The results indicated that applied voltage and frequency were basic factors influencing the jet temperature, discharge power, and jet length, which increased significantly with the two operating parameters. Meanwhile, gas velocity affected the jet temperature in a reverse direction. In comparison with a He plasma jet, the Ar plasma jet had relatively low jet temperature under the same level of the input parameters, being preferable for bio-applications. The Ar plasma jet has been tested to interact with human skin within 5 min without the perception of burnt skin and electrical shock.     

Discharge characteristics and reactive species production of unipolar and bipolar nanosecond pulsed gas–liquid discharge generated in atmospheric N_2

In this paper,unipolar pulse (including positive pulse and negative pulse) and bipolar pulse voltage are employed to generate diffuse gas–liquid discharge in atmospheric N_2with a rumpetshaped quartz tube.The current–voltage waveforms,optical emission spectra of excited state active species,FTIR spectra of exhaust gas components,plasma gas temperature,and aqueous H_2O_2,NO_2~-,andNO_3~-production are compared in three pulse modes,meanwhile,the effects of pulse peak voltage and gas flow rate on the production of reactive species are studied.The results show that two obvious discharges occur in each voltage pulse in unipolar pulse driven discharge,differently,in bipolar pulse driven discharge,only one main discharge appears in a single voltage pulse time.The intensities of active species (OH(A),and O(3p)) in all three pulsed discharge increase with the rise of pulse peak voltage and have the highest value at 200 ml min~(-1)of gas flow rate.The absorbance intensities of NO_2and N_2O increase with the increase of pulse peak voltage and decrease with the increase of gas flow rate.Under the same discharge conditions,the bipolar pulse driven discharge shows lower breakdown voltage,and higher intensities of excited species (N_2(C),OH(A),and O(3p)),nitrogen oxides (NO_2,NO,and N_2O),and higher production of aqueous H_2O_2,NO_2~-,andNO_3~-compared with both unipolar positive and negative discharges.     

Plasma Uniformity in a Dual Frequency Capacitively Coupled Plasma Reactor Measured by Optical Emission Spectroscopy

Local measurement of plasma radial uniformity was performed in a dual frequency capacitively coupled argon plasma (DF-CCP) reactor using an optical probe. The optical probe collects the light emission from a small separate volume in plasma, thus enabling to diagnose the plasma uniformity for different experimental parameters. Both the gas pressure and the low-frequency (LF) power have apparent effects on the radial uniformity of argon plasma. With the increase in either pressure or LF power, the emission profiles changed from a bell-shaped to a double-peak distribution. The influence of a fused-silica ring around the electrodes on the plasma uniformity was also studied using the optical probe. Possible reasons that result in nonuniform plasmas in our experiments are discussed.     

Degradation of tiamulin by a packed bed dielectric barrier plasma combined with TiO2 catalyst

Recently, a plasma catalyst was employed to efficiently degrade antibiotic residues in the environment. In this study, the plasma generated in a packed bed dielectric barrier reactor combined with TiO2 catalyst is used to degrade the antibiotic tiamulin (TIA) loaded on the surface of simulated soil particles. The effects of applied voltage, composition of the working gas, gas flow rate and presence or absence of catalyst on the degradation effect were studied. It was found that plasma and catalyst can produce a synergistic effect under optimal conditions (applied voltage 25 kV, oxygen ratio 1%, gas flow rate 0.6 l min−1, treatment time 5 min). The degradation efficiency of the plasma combined with catalyst can reach 78.6%, which is 18.4% higher than that of plasma without catalyst. When the applied voltage is 30 kV, the gas flow rate is 1 l min−1, the oxygen ratio is 1% and the plasma combined with TiO2 catalyst treats the sample for 5 min the degradation efficiency of TIA reached 97%. It can be concluded that a higher applied voltage and longer processing times not only lead to more degradation but also result in a lower energy efficiency. Decreasing the oxygen ratio and gas flow rate could improve the degradation efficiency. The relative distribution and identity of the major TIA degradation product generated was determined by high-performance liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry analysis. The mechanism of TIA removal by plasma and TiO2 catalyst was analyzed, and the possible degradation path is discussed.     

Discharge characteristics and reactive species production of unipolar and bipolar nanosecond pulsed gas-liquid discharge generated in atmospheric

In this paper,unipolar pulse (including positive pulse and negative pulse) and bipolar pulse voltage are employed to generate diffuse gas-liquid discharge in atmospheric N2 with a trumpet-shaped quartz tube.The current-voltage waveforms,optical emission spectra of excited state active species,FTIR spectra of exhaust gas components,plasma gas temperature,and aqueous H2O2,NO2-,and NO3-production are compared in three pulse modes,meanwhile,the effects of pulse peak voltage and gas flow rate on the production of reactive species are studied.The results show that two obvious discharges occur in each voltage pulse in unipolar pulse driven discharge,differently,in bipolar pulse driven discharge,only one main discharge appears in a single voltage pulse time.The intensities of active species (OH(A),and O(3p)) in all three pulsed discharge increase with the rise of pulse peak voltage and have the highest value at 200 ml min-1 of gas flow rate.The absorbance intensities of NO2 and N2O increase with the increase of pulse peak voltage and decrease with the increase of gas flow rate.Under the same discharge conditions,the bipolar pulse driven discharge shows lower breakdown voltage,and higher intensities of excited species (N2(C),OH(A),and O(3p)),nitrogen oxides (NO2,NO,and N2O),and higher production of aqueous H2O2,NO2-,and NO3-compared with both unipolar positive and negative discharges.     

Influence of Additive Gas on Electrical and Optical Characteristics of Non-equilibrium Atmospheric Pressure Argon Plasma Jet

Electrical and optical properties of an argon plasma jet were characterized. In particular, effects of an additive gas, namely nitrogen or oxygen, on these prop...     

Removal of NO and SO2 in Corona Discharge Plasma Reactor with Water Film

In this paper, a novel type of a corona discharge plasma reactor was designed, which consists of needle-plate-combined electrodes, in which a series of needle electrodes are placed in a glass container filled with flue gas, and a plate electrode is immersed in the water. Based on this model, the removal of NO and SO2 was tested experimentally. In addition, the effect of streamer polarity on the reduction of SO2 and NO was investigated in detail. The experimental results show that the corona wind formed between the high-voltage needle electrode and the water by corona discharge enhances the cleaning efficiency of the flue gas because of the presence of water, and the cleaning efficiency will increase with the increase of applied dc voltage within a definite range. The removal efficiency of SO2 up to 98%, and about 85% of NO~ removal under suitable conditions is obtained in our experiments.     

Plasma cleaning technique for the removal of mixed materials

Erosion of materials by physical sputtering is the most fundamental of plasma–surface interactions in tokamaks. Carbon and tungsten materials planned to be used in ITER divertor are subjected to erosion, which produces local redeposition of mixed layers. Tritium retention in mixed materials is the major concern due to the limits imposed for safety reason by nuclear licensing. No technique has yet been proven capable of remove trapped tritium in ITER operating environment. In-situ oxidative cleaning techniques have been developed to remove co-deposits. Since oxygen can be incompatible with Be first wall (getter effect), a plasma cleaning using hydrogen–argon gas mixture has been proposed in this work. C–W mixed materials were produced for this purpose by capacitively coupled RF plasma sputtering. The process has been investigated by optical emission spectroscopy and Langmuir probe.