Atmospheric pressure generation of O(a) by microplasmas

J.S. Sousa (1, 2) , G. Bauville (1) , B. Lacour (1) , V. Puech (1) , M. Touzeau (3)

1 LPGP - Laboratoire de physique des gaz et des plasmas
2 Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear
3 Laboratoire des Techniques de la Microélectronique

The generation of singlet delta oxygen states (O(a)) by microplasmas has been studied experimentally. In the present paper, it is shown that micro-cathode sustained discharges (MCSD's) can be used to produce high fluxes of O(a) at atmospheric pressure. In He/O/NO mixtures, O(a) number densities higher than 10 cm can be generated by this 3-electrode configuration and transported over distances of some tens of cm. In fact, at total flow rates up to 30 ln/min, O(a) fluxes above 10 mmol/h were measured in the MCSD afterglow, at 26 cm downstream. As a result, MCSD's appear to be very efficient and suitable tools for the continuous production of large amounts of O(a) at atmospheric pressure, which could give rise to a wide range of new applications, namely biological. The effect of different parameters such as gas flows and mixtures, and discharge current are discussed in the paper.

Mots clés: Physical Sciences

J.S. Sousa, G. Bauville, B. Lacour, V. Puech, M. Touzeau. Atmospheric pressure generation of O(a) by microplasmas. European Physical Journal: Applied Physics, 2009, 47 (2), pp.1-7. ⟨10.1051/epjap/2009103⟩. ⟨hal-00489489⟩