Electrostatic Debye layer formed at a plasma-liquid interface

Optical and Chemical Measurements of Solvated Electrons Produced in Plasma Electrolysis with a Water Cathode

It is known that glow discharges with a water anode inject and form solvated electrons at the plasma-liquid interface, driving a wide variety of reduction reactions. However, in systems with a water cathode, the production and role of solvated electrons are less clear. Here, we present evidence for the direct detection of solvated electrons produced at the interface of an argon plasma and a water cathode via absorption spectroscopy. We further quantify their yield using the dissociative electron attachment of chloroacetate, measuring a yield of 1.04 ± 0.59 electrons per incident ion, corresponding to approximately 100% faradaic efficiency. Additionally, we estimate a yield of 2.09 ± 0.93 hydroxyl radicals per incident ion. Comparison of this yield with other findings in the literature supports that these hydroxyl radicals are likely formed directly in the liquid phase rather than by diffusion from the vapor phase.

Probing time-resolved plasma-driven solution electrochemistry in a falling liquid film plasma reactor: Identification of HO2- as a plasma-derived reducing agent

Many applications involving plasma-liquid interactions depend on the reactive processes occurring at the plasma-liquid interface. We report on a falling liquid film plasma reactor allowing for in situ optical absorption measurements of the time-dependence of the ferricyanide/ferrocyanide redox reactivity, complemented with ex situ measurement of the decomposition of formate. We found excellent agreement between the measured decomposition percentages and the diffusion-limited decomposition of formate by interfacial plasma-enabled reactions, except at high pH in thin liquid films, indicating the involvement of previously unexplored plasma-induced liquid phase chemistry enabled by long-lived reactive species. We also determined that high pH facilitates a reduction-favoring environment in ferricyanide/ferrocyanide redox solutions. In situ conversion measurements of a 1:1 ferricyanide/ferrocyanide redox mixture exceed the measured ex situ conversion and show that conversion of a 1:1 ferricyanide/ferrocyanide mixture is strongly dependent on film thickness. We identified three dominant processes: reduction faster than ms time scales for film thicknesses >100 µm, •OH-driven oxidation on time scales of <10 ms, and reduction on 15 ms time scales for film thickness <100 µm. We attribute the slow reduction and larger formate decomposition at high pH to HO2- formed from plasma-produced H2O2 enabled by the high pH at the plasma-liquid interface as confirmed experimentally and by computed reaction rates of HO2- with ferricyanide. Overall, this work demonstrates the utility of liquid film reactors in enabling the discovery of new plasma-interfacial chemistry and the utility of atmospheric plasmas for electrodeless electrochemistry.

Viscous droplet in nonthermal plasma: Instability, fingering process, and droplet fragmentation

The interaction of dielectric barrier discharge plasma and silicone-oil liquid droplet in a Hele-Shaw cell was investigated experimentally employing synchronized optical and electrical time-resolved measurements. Temporal development of the destabilization, stretching, and fragmentation of the plasma-liquid interface was studied for the whole event lifespan. The perturbation wavelength and temporal development of fingering speed, plasma-liquid interface length, mean transferred charge, and fractal dimension of the pattern were determined. Recorded changes in the dissipated mean power show a strong correlation to subsequent stretching of the interface, opening new methodological possibilities for future investigations. Our extensive parametric study shows that oil viscosity and applied voltage amplitude both have a significant impact on the interface evolution. Notably, at relatively high voltages the destabilized interface featured properties noticeably diverging from the theoretical prediction of a known model. We propose an explanation based on the change of the liquid viscosity with increased heating at high applied voltage amplitudes.