Experimental study of negative corona discharge in pure carbon dioxide and its mixtures with oxygen.

The products of a negative corona discharge in both pure CO₂ and mixtures of CO₂ + O₂ have been studied using a coaxial cylindrical electrode geometry with particular emphasis on the production of ozone. The discharge current in pure CO₂ was found to be highly sensitive to the presence of trace concentrations of molecular oxygen and to changes in the flow speed through the discharge. The effect of dissociative electron attachment to ozone on the discharge current was studied by measurements of ozone and CO production. The ozone concentration increases monotonically with increasing content of oxygen in the mixture with carbon dioxide, whereas the CO concentration exhibits a flat maximum for oxygen concentrations of around 4%. A simple kinetic model of the dominant chemical processes is described and compared with the experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]