Cold atmospheric plasma discharge induced fast decontamination of a wide range of organic compounds suitable for environmental applications

Abstract

A fast and facile approach for decomposition of model organic dyes through high voltage corona discharge in solution was presented. A comparative study of the significant potential of this technique for degradation of 8 different types of standard organic compounds such as Phenol Red (PR), Methyl Orange (MO), Diamine Green B (DGB), Pyrogallol Red (PYR), Bromocresol Green (BCG), Bromochlorophenol Blue (BCB), Naphtol Green B (NGB) and Crystal Violet (CV) has been performed. The decomposition rate of dyes under corona discharge was evaluated by measuring the changes in absorption peak of model dye at different discharge times using ultraviolet–visible absorption spectroscopy (UV–vis). The results revealed that corona discharge at ambient air significantly enhanced the degradation rate of standard dyes. In addition, a possible mechanism for degradation of dye molecules under corona discharge process was proposed based on our observations. It has been found that this process, which is based on the most efficient energetic species, is much more powerful than other conventional methods such as photocatalytic materials.