Generation of Reactive Species by Gas-Phase Dielectric Barrier Discharges

Abstract

This work presents a study of discharge characteristics and generation of reactive species such as OH• radical, hydrogen peroxide, and ozone by a gas-phase dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) process. A series of experiments were performed to investigate the effects of various parameters such as input energy density, feeding gas, gas flow rate, and electrode gap on the formation of OH• radical, hydrogen peroxide, and ozone in solution. The pH and N-containing products (NO2– and NO3–) in solution were also determined. The experimental data show that formation rates of OH• radical, hydrogen peroxide, and ozone in solution were found to depend on the input energy density, feeding gas, gas flow rate, and electrode gap. When pure oxygen was used as the feeding gas, O3 was the major reactive species. The OH• radical was observed to be the major reactive species generated and its concentration was approximately 12 times higher than that of O3 when air with 100% relative humidity (RH) was used as the feeding gas. ...