Ozone generation enhanced by silica catalyst in oxygen-fed dielectric barrier discharge

Abstract

The influence of silica catalyst on ozone generation in oxygen-fed dielectric barrier discharge is investigated experimentally. The load of a silica film on ceramic plate surface does not evidentially change the filamentary discharge pattern, meanwhile, both ozone concentration and ozone yield increase owing to the catalysis of silica. The catalysis that is related to adsorption will prolong the retention time of active species and enhance surface reactions. The specific surface area of 16.31 m2/g of the dielectric with a silica film is about 8 times larger than that of the dielectric without a silica film. Meanwhile, there are some hydroxyl groups on the former but nothing on the latter. When the thickness of the silica film is 940 nm, ozone concentration and ozone yield can maximally increase by about 7.1% and 72.6% at 5 kHz and 1 slpm, respectively. However, the silica film cannot be too high because it will be not beneficial for ozone generation due to the decreasing thermal conductivity of the loaded dielectric.