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An effective surface charge removal is critical to diverse applications of polymer and other soft organic materials in electrical devices and systems. Here, we report on the application of atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharge (AP-DBD) to deposit SiOx thin films to improve the surface charge dissipation on an epoxy resin surface. The SiOx nanofilms are formed at atmospheric pressure, with the replacement of organic groups (C-H, C=O and C=C) with inorganic groups (Si-O-Si and Si-OH) within the thin surface layer. After the plasma deposition, the initial surface charge decreased by 12% and the surface charge dissipation was accelerated. The flashover voltage which characterizes the insulation property of the epoxy resin is increased by 42%. These improvements are attributed to the lower density of shallow charge traps introduced by SiOx film deposition, which also corresponds to the surface conductivity increase. These results suggest that the SiOx deposition by AP-DBD is promising to accelerate surface charge dissipation. This method is generic, applicable for other types of precursors and may open new avenues for the development of next-generation organic-inorganic insulation materials with customized charge dissipation properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A needle-circular electrode structure helium plasma jet driven by microsecond pulsed power is studied. Spatially resolved emission results show that the emission intensity of He(33S1) line decreases monotonically along the axial direction, while those of N2(C3Πu), N2 + (B2 Σ+ u), and O (3p5P) reach their maxima at 3 cm, 2.6 cm, and 1.4 cm, respectively. The plasma plume of the four species shows different characteristics: The N2 emission plume travels at a fast speed along the entire plasma jet; the N2 + emission plume is composed of a bright head and relatively weak tail and travels a shorter distance than the N2 emission plume; the He emission plume travels at a slower speed for only a very short distance; propagation of the O emission plume is not observed. Results of calculation of radiation fluxes emitted by positive streamers propagating along helium plasma jets are presented. It is shown, in agreement with the results of the present experiment and with other available experimental data, that the intensities of radiation of N2(C3Πu) molecules and He(33S1) atoms vary with time (along the plasma jet) quite differently. The factors resulting in this difference are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surface modification of fiber fabric sometimes needs a large volume of cold plasma to improve its efficiency. This experimental study is based on the treatment of polyamide 66 (PA66) fabrics using large contact-area glow-like plasma, which are produced in the atmospheric air without any dielectric barriers. The atomic force microscopy (AFM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) are adopted, respectively, to detect the surface changes in physical microstructure and the variations in the type and quantity of chemical functional groups. The results show that the PA66 fabric surface will be etched remarkably by the glow-like plasma, and the surface roughness and the surface energy are augmented. On the surface of the processed PA66 fabrics, the oxygen-containing functional groups' content rises together with the decrease on the total primary C-C and C-N bonds. After 30 seconds of sterilization by the glow-like plasmas, most of the bacterial colonies on the fabric vanish. The effectiveness of this kind of plasma treatment could last for three days in a sealed environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Runaway electrons preionized diffuse discharge (REP DD) could generate volume non-thermal plasmas at atmospheric pressure, thus is widely used for surface modification. In this paper, two pulsed generators are used to produce REP DD for modifying copper (Cu) foil in atmospheric air. One generator produces repetitive pulses with a peak voltage of 40 kV and a rise time of 150 ns. The other generator produces single pulse with a peak voltage of 280 kV and a rise time of 0.5 ns. After the treatment, the modification results for including the macro topography, chemical composition and microhardness in different depths of the Cu surface are analyzed. In order to estimate the modification results in different areas of the Cu foil, several points from the center to the edge of the Cu sample are selected. It could be observed that the maximal modification effect usually appears in the area where the density of the diffuse discharge plasma is highest. The experimental results show REP DD treatment could significantly decrease the water contact angle and increase surface energy of the Cu foil. Meanwhile, it could decrease the carbon concentration and increase oxygen concentration in the near-surface layer of the Cu sample, and enhance the microhardness in different depths of the Cu foil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Power source is an important parameter that can affect the characteristics of atmospheric-pressure plasma jets (APPJs), because it can play a key role on the discharge characteristics and ionization process of APPJs. In this paper, the characteristics of helium APPJs sustained by both nanosecondpulse and microsecond-pulse generators are compared from the aspects of plume length, discharge current, consumption power, energy, and optical emission spectrum. Experimental results showed that the pulsed APPJ was initiated near the high-voltage electrode with a small curvature radius, and then the stable helium APPJ could be observed when the applied voltage increased. Moreover, the discharge current of the nanosecond-pulse APPJ was larger than that of the microsecond-pulse APPJ. Furthermore, although the nanosecond-pulse generator consumed less energy than the microsecond-pulse generator, longer plume length, larger instantaneous power per pulse and stronger spectral line intensity could be obtained in the nanosecond-pulse excitation case. In addition, some discussion indicated that the rise time of the applied voltage could play a prominent role on the generation of APPJs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polymer materials, such as polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), are widely used as insulators in vacuum. The insulating performance of a high-voltage vacuum system is mainly limited by surface flashover of the insulators rather than bulk breakdown. Non-thermal plasmas are an efficient method to modify the chemical and physical properties of polymer material surfaces, and enhance the surface insulating performance. In this letter, an atmospheric-pressure dielectric barrier discharge is used to treat the PMMA surface to improve the surface flashover strength in vacuum. Experimental results indicate that the plasma treatment method using Ar and CF4 (10:1) as the working gas can etch the PMMA surface, introduce fluoride groups to the surface, and then alter the surface characteristics of the PMMA. The increase in the surface roughness can introduce physical traps that can capture free electrons, and the fluorination can enhance the charge capturing ability. The increase in the surface roughness and the introduction of the fluoride groups can enhance the PMMA hydrophobic ability, improve the charge capturing ability, decrease the secondary electron emission yield, increase the surface resistance, and improve the surface flashover voltage in vacuum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plasma jet array is a promising device for producing low-temperature plasma at atmospheric pressure. In our letter, the effect of O2 additive on spatial uniformity of one-dimensional helium plasma jet array is described. The length of the plasma jet in the middle of the array before the injection of O2 additive is less than that on the edges of the array. However, when a small amount of O2 additive is injected into the plasma jet array, the length increases and becomes approximately the same as the length of the plasma jets on the edges of the array. The improvement of spatial uniformity of the plasma jet array is due to the enhancement of the Penning ionization in the plasma jets caused by O2 additive. Too much quantity of O2 additive, however, may lead to discharge quenching in the plasma jet array. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The characteristics of a corona discharge in atmospheric pressure air are studied using pulsed power generators that produce voltage pulses of different durations, polarities and shapes. The characteristics are measured in the single pulse, batch, and repetitively pulsed modes. It is shown that no matter what the voltage pulse polarity is, a corona discharge starts developing as a conical diffuse discharge near the electrode tip with a voltage rate of increase of ~1015 Vs-1 across an electrode of small curvature radius. With lower voltage rate of increase (~1013 Vs-1 or lower), one or several diffuse jets develop from this electrode. The diameter of the jets at their front is less than 1mm and depends on many factors (voltage pulse amplitude and increase, interelectrode gap width, pulse repetition rate, etc). It is found that at long voltage pulse durations, the radiation spectrum of the corona discharge changes, and the bands and lines of the material of the electrode appear in the UV region at 200-300 nm. It is demonstrated that a runaway electron beam in a corona discharge is generated and detected at a distance several times greater than the brightly glowing plasma region of the corona discharge. It is shown that x-rays are generated from a corona discharge at high pulse repetition rates of up to 1 kHz. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dielectric barrier discharge excitated by pulsed power is a promising approach for producing nonthermal plasma at atmospheric pressure, but pulsed power generators vary widely in performance and should be chosen according to application requirements. In this paper, a repetitive unipolar nanosecond-pulse generator is constructed using resonant charging and one-stage magnetic compression circuits, where IGBT and magnetic switches are the key units, respectively. The generator is capable of providing repetitive pulses with a voltage of up to 30 kV and duration of 70 ns at a 300 Ω resistive load. Output pulse voltage can be adjusted by varying ac input voltage or trigger pulse-width. This compact and convenient generator has been used successfully to produce stable dielectric barrier discharge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we report on results from a computational investigation of nanosecond pulsed discharges in air of negative polarity using a two-dimensional fluid and fluid-Monte Carlo simulations. The computational parameters and conditions are taken from an experiment. The discharge is initiated near the cathode having a small radius of curvature and propagates towards the flat anode. The simulations are done in atmospheric pressure air with a nanosecond pulse of 120 kV amplitude in a 12 mm gap with a sharp cathode. The essential difference between discharges initiated by low- and high-energy beams of electrons originating in the vicinity of the cathode was observed. The beam of electrons with the initial energy of 20 keV was shown to result in a diffuse discharge, while the 20 eV beam had a negligible influence on the discharge evolution. By analyzing the experimental and computational results, we conclude that a diffuse discharge is formed due to fast electrons without any assumptions on the critical role of the runaway electrons. More study is required to explore the intermediate range of energies and investigate the transition to the diffuse mode of the discharge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A single needle-electrode plasma jet driven by a home-made microsecond pulse power supply is studied. The electrical characteristics and optical emissions of the plasma jets driven by positive- and negative-polarity pulses are compared. With the same magnitude of applied voltage, the plasma jet driven by positive pulses shows a higher discharge current, a higher optical emission intensity and travels to a longer distance. The temporal-spatially resolved He (706.5 nm), N2 (337.1 nm) and (391.4 nm) emissions behave differently in the plasma jets driven by different polarity pulses: They appear to be discrete emission packets in the positive plasma jet, but continuous emission in the negative plasma jet (under the time resolution in this study). The emission front propagates at a faster speed in the positive plasma jet than in the negative plasma jet. The different behavior of the plasma jets is attributed to the electric field distribution under different polarity pulses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the generation and discharge modes of 2D atmospheric pressure plasma jet arrays in economic argon feeding gas with a honeycomb configuration is first reported. Two coupling and collimated discharge modes are achieved with the same array structure. The discharge modes are shown to depend on the gas flow rate and center-to-center distances of jets in the array. Stronger plasmas with higher plasma density than single jet can be obtained in coupling mode array at close proximity of jets in the array and small gas flow rate, while plasmas with moderate plasma density and relative large area can be obtained in the collimated mode array at far proximity of jets in the array. The power density and emission spectra from the centered plasma jet for the coupling mode array are both larger than those of the collimated mode. The appearance of the two discharge modes may be due to the hydrodynamic interactions between the seven individual Ar channels emerging from individual tubes with the air surrounding them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper illustrates images of dielectric-barrier discharge (DBD) excitated by repetitive unipolar nanosecond pulses in atmospheric air. Different images are obtained for three barrier dielectrics and various gap lengths. Discharge images show that the nanosecond-pulse DBD observed with the eye is a diffuse glowlike mode when air gap is 2 mm; clear filamentary discharge is seen with the eye in the case of air gap of 8 mm. The results show that gap length and dielectrics are the important factors influencing the transition from diffusive to filamentary discharges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]