Experimental analysis of DBD plasma jet properties using different gases and two kinds of transfer plate

Abstract

Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) plasma jets has been studied extensively in recent years because of its wide range of applications. DBD plasmas can be produced using many different gases and can be applied to a broad variety of surfaces and substrates. In this work, we provide a comparison of DBD plasmas generated using argon (Ar), helium (He) and nitrogen (N2), as well as their mixtures with water vapor in order to know how some plasma properties are affected by the use of different gases. All plasmas were studied in two different conditions, using a transfer plate made of a conductive material and using a transfer plate made of an insulating one. We observed that the processes of excitation and ionization of nitrogen molecules by direct collisions with Ar or He are more evident and significant in He plasmas, which means that He atoms in metastable states have greater ability to transfer energy to molecules of nitrogen in the plasma. The collisions of He atoms in metastable states with N2 molecules determine the vibrational temperature (Tvib) values in He plasmas, while in Ar and N2 plasmas the Tvib values are determined mainly by collisions of electrons with N2 molecules.