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In recent years, nanoparticles have emerged as an important player in a broad range of applications, especially thanks to recent advances in their synthesis. The silver and copper nanoparticles are often used due to their antibacterial and fungicidal activities, and this article presents the results of the nanoparticle synthesis using electrical glow discharge generated directly in a volume of their salt solutions. Therefore, there is no influence of air (i.e. reactive nitrogen species) as it is usual in other commonly used approaches. Nanoparticles were prepared under various experimental conditions, and they were characterized by ultraviolet/visible spectrometry, dynamic light scattering, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and high-resolution scanning electron microscopy. Particles were produced without any surfactant or stabilizing agent, and some of them showed higher resistance against agglomeration during their short-term (days) storage. The nanoparticle formation mechanism was confirmed by the fast camera imaging. Thus, the developed approach can be applied for simple environmentally friendly nanoparticle production for various applications.

The process of organic dye removal from various water solutions containing organic dyes and inorganic additives by the DC diaphragm discharge has been studied in so called “negative part” of this. The concentration of treated dye decreases almost exponentially to constant residual value. The final dye concentration reached approximately 20% of the initial value after 10 minutes of the treatment of the Direct Red 79 dye solution. The dye de-coloration was affected by the dye structure. The azo and diazo compounds have been degraded significantly faster to be compared to thiazine compounds. The degradation process requires an optimal adjustment of the initial solution conductivity. The optimum conductivity of approximately 600 μS⋅cm-1was found when the dye solution contained either NaCl or NABr electrolytes. The type of electrolyte used for the conductivity adjustment considerably affects the process of dye de-coloration. Halogen compounds have been found to be the most proper compounds for such purpose.