Quantitative Analysis of Ozone and Nitrogen Oxides Produced by a Low Power Miniaturized Surface Dielectric Barrier Discharge: Effect of Oxygen Content and Humidity Level

Abstract

This study presented a quantitative evaluation of the performance of a low power miniaturized SDBD source for the production of ozone and nitrogen oxides as benchmarks of long-lived RONS. The effects of varying oxygen and humidity on the trend of the production efficiency are investigated. The oxygen content and the humidity had no noticeable effect on the total power consumed, but their level in the feeding gas has a strong impact on the production of NxOy. It is found also that there is an optimum level of the oxygen content and the humidity for the production of NO2 and N2O. The analysis of the results indicated that the nitrogen excited species, especially $${\text{N}}_{2 } \left( {A^{3} \varSigma_{u}^{ + } } \right)$$ and N(2D) play vital roles in the production of the nitrogen oxides, particularly the NO, which considered as the main source for the other NxOy in the present system. Interestingly, it is found that the humidity has a positive effect on the NO2 production, while it has a negative effect on the N2O and O3, which implied that the present SDBD is a strong oxidizer for the formed NO. The rise in the gas temperature in the present SDBD was negligible and has no effect on the production of nitrogen oxides, while the temperature of the plasma channel might affect the RONS production efficiency. Investigating the production mechanisms and the energy efficiency, of the formed nitrogen oxides, unravels for the first time the performance of the SDBD for nitrogen fixation.