Understanding plasma-surface interactions is important in a variety of emerging research areas, including sustainable energy, environmental remediation, medicine, and high-value
manufacturing. Plasma-based technologies in these applications utilize surface chemistry driven by species created in the plasma or at a plasma-surface interface. Here, we develop a helical dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) configuration to produce a small-scale plasma that can be implemented in a diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS) cell and integrated with a commercial Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer instrument to study plasma interactions with inert or catalytic solid media. The design utilizes the entire surface of a cylinder as its dielectric, enhancing the plasma contact area with a packed bed. In this study, we characterize the electrical and visual properties of the helical DBD design in an empty reaction cell and with added potassium bromide (KBr) powder packing material in both air and argon gas environments at ambient conditions. The new surface DBD configuration was integrated into a DRIFTS cell and the time evolution of water desorbing from the KBr packed bed was investigated. Measurements show that this configuration can be operated in filamentary or glow-like mode depending on the gas composition and the water content absorbed on KBr solid media. These results not only set the basis for the study of plasma-surface interactions using a commercial FTIR, but also show that controlling the gas environment and water content in a packed bed might be useful for studying different plasma regimes that are typically not possible at atmospheric pressure.
You can reach the paper via this link: Nazli Turan et al 2020 J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys
Nazli Turan1, Patrick Barboun2, Pritam K. Nayak3, Jason Hicks2 and David B. Go4
Accepted Manuscript online 25 March 2020 • © 2020 IOP Publishing Ltd
