Self-consistent plasma chemistry model for surface microdischarge in humid air including effects of ohmic heating and gas flow

Abstract

A numerical model is presented for surface microdischarges (SMDs) in flowing humid air at atmospheric pressure, to investigate the effects of the direct ohmic heating of gases in the discharge layer, and the transports of heat and particles by gas flow. Using a simplified configuration of heat transfer and gas flow, the proposed model calculated not only the densities of neutral species but also the temperatures of gases as time dependent variables. The calculated dynamics for various reactive oxygen and nitrogen species showed reasonable agreement with the experimental results obtained by Fourier transformed infrared absorption spectroscopy, while the calculated dynamics without ohmic heating of gases in the discharge layer showed significant disagreement. These results imply that local ohmic heating of the thin discharge layer by the microdischarge itself considerably affected the rate constants of the temperature dependent chemical reactions. The dynamics of the neutral species were also affected by gas flow, both directly through particle transport, and indirectly through cooling. Accordingly, to properly simulate the dynamics of reactive neutral species in SMDs, plasma chemistry models should treat plasmas as sources of both particles and heat which can be deliberately transported by gas flow.