Impact of silica seeding and discharge voltage on plasma parameters at atmospheric pressure
Authors
Abstract
The interaction of cold plasma with heterogeneous catalysts has led to some peculiar behavior, especially with
silica (SiO2) seeding in presence of 2% alumina (Al2O3). In this paper, we have measured plasma parameters in
low temperature arc plasma. I – V characteristics of Langmuir probes are plotted using the data obtained from
the experimental set up for single probe method in arc plasma at atmospheric pressure. It is revealed that the
used seed modifies the electron temperature of the plasma appreciably while the temperature of the gas in the
surrounding remains almost unchanged. The single probe characteristics have been utilized to measure the
electron temperature, floating potential, Debye length and electron density. It is found that electron temperature
decreases whereas electron density increases appreciably after seeding the arc plasma. The decrease in
electron temperature and increase in electron density to 99.9% are observed after seeding the arc plasma
with silica mixture as compared to those before seeding. Variations in plasma parameters such as electron
temperature, electron density, plasma frequency and Debye length with discharge voltage are also plotted for the
silica seeded arc plasma.
