Search for: All records

Abstract Charging of particles having diameters of tens of microns has been extensively studied at atmospheric pressure in the context of, for example, electrostatic precipitators where the focus was on unipolar charging. The ambipolar charging of particles in atmospheric pressure plasmas, and of droplets in particular, has received less attention. The plasma activation of droplets is of interest for water purification, fertilizer production and materials synthesis, all of which depend on the transport of the droplets through the plasma, which in turn depends on their charging. In this paper, we report on the transport dynamics of water droplets, tens of microns in diameter, carried by the gas flow through an atmospheric pressure radiofrequency glow discharge sustained in helium. The droplets pass through the plasma with minimal evaporation and without reaching the Rayleigh limit. The droplet trajectory in the presence and absence of the plasma provides insights on the forces acting on the droplet. The measurements were analyzed using results from a three-dimensional fluid model and a two-dimensional plasma hydrodynamics model. We found that the transport dynamics as the droplet enters and leaves the plasma are due to differential charging of the droplet in the plasma gradients of the bounding sheaths to the plasma. 

Abstract Plasmas interacting with liquid microdroplets are gaining momentum due to their ability to significantly enhance the reactivity transfer from the gas phase plasma to the liquid. This is, for example, critically important for efficiently decomposing organic pollutants in water. In this contribution, the role of ⋅ OH as well as non- ⋅ OH-driven chemistry initiated by the activation of small water microdroplets in a controlled environment by diffuse RF glow discharge in He with different gas admixtures (Ar, O 2 and humidified He) at atmospheric pressure is quantified. The effect of short-lived radicals such as O ⋅ and H ⋅ atoms, singlet delta oxygen (O 2 ( a 1 Δ g )), O 3 and metastable atoms of He and Ar, besides ⋅ OH radicals, on the decomposition of formate dissolved in droplets was analyzed using detailed plasma diagnostics, droplet characterization and ex situ chemical analysis of the treated droplets. The formate decomposition increased with increasing droplet residence time in the plasma, with ∼70% decomposition occurring within ∼15 ms of the plasma treatment time. The formate oxidation in the droplets is shown to be limited by the gas phase ⋅ OH flux at lower H 2 O concentrations with a significant enhancement in the formate decomposition at the lowest water concentration, attributed to e − /ion-induced reactions. However, the oxidation is diffusion limited in the liquid phase at higher gaseous ⋅ OH concentrations. The formate decomposition in He/O 2 plasma was similar, although with an order of magnitude higher O ⋅ radical density than the ⋅ OH density in the corresponding He/H 2 O plasma. Using a one-dimensional reaction–diffusion model, we showed that O 2 ( a 1 Δ g ) and O 3 did not play a significant role and the decomposition was due to O ⋅ , and possibly ⋅ OH generated in the vapor containing droplet-plasma boundary layer.