Electrical and optical characteristics of diffuse nanosecond pulsed discharge plasma using a needle-array electrode in atmospheric air

Abstract

In this paper, a stable and diffuse dielectric barrier discharge plasma excited by bipolar nanosecond pulse is obtained under a needle-array electrode at atmospheric pressure in air. The images of the diffuse discharge, electric characteristics, and the optical emission spectra emitted from the diffuse discharge are investigated under mono and multi needle electrodes configuration. The peak value of discharge current, the average power, the power density, the emission intensity of N2 (C3Πu →B3Πg, 0-0), and the gas temperature of the diffuse dielectric barrier discharge plasmas are investigated under different needle electrode numbers based on the waveforms of pulse voltage-current and the optical emission spectra. Moreover, the plasma area is obviously enlarged in the transverse direction when the needle electrode number is increased from 1 to 13. An area approximately 65 × 45 mm2 diffuse discharge plasma region under 13 needle electrodes can be obtained and the discharge plasma still keeps good uniformity, which could be used for large-area surface processing in several fields spanning from biological sterilization and plasma medicine to surface modification of materials and synthesis of functional materials.