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OH radicals distribution in an Ar-H{sub 2}O atmospheric plasma jet

Journal Article · · Physics of Plasmas
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4820945· OSTI ID:22224199
;  [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [2];  [3]
  1. Department of Applied Physics, Research Unit Plasma Technology, Ghent University, Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat 41, Ghent B-9000 (Belgium)
  2. Chimie des Interactions Plasma-Surface (ChIPS), CIRMAP, Universite de Mons, 20 Place du Parc, B-7000 Mons (Belgium)
  3. College of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, HuaZhong University of Science and Technology, WuHan, Hubei 430074 (China)
Recently, plasma jet systems found numerous applications in the field of biomedicine and treatment of temperature-sensitive materials. OH radicals are one of the main active species produced by these plasmas. Present study deals with the investigation of RF atmospheric pressure plasma jet in terms of OH radicals production by admixture of H{sub 2}O into argon used as a feed gas. Generation of OH radicals is studied by laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy. The excitation dynamics of OH radicals induced by the laser photons is studied by time-resolved spectroscopy. It is shown that vibrational and rotational energy transfer processes, which are sensitive to the surrounding species, can lead to the complication in the OH radicals diagnostics at high pressure and have to be considered during experiments. The axial and radial 2D maps of absolute densities of hydroxyl radicals at different water contents are obtained. The highest density of 1.15 × 10{sup 20} m{sup −3} is measured in the plasma core for the case of 0.3% H{sub 2}O. In the x–y-plane, the OH density steeply decreases within a range of ±2 mm from its maximum value down to 10{sup 18} m{sup −3}. The effect of H{sub 2}O addition on the generation of OH radicals is investigated and discussed.
OSTI ID:
22224199
Journal Information:
Physics of Plasmas, Journal Name: Physics of Plasmas Journal Issue: 9 Vol. 20; ISSN PHPAEN; ISSN 1070-664X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English