No abstract

The aim of this paper is to discuss some aspects of the optimization of the active species generated by corona or DBD discharges at atmospheric pressure which are very useful in the field of plasma environmental and biomedical applications. For such an optimization, this paper targets, in particular, the use of discharge modeling tools and the problem of accuracy of the required basic data. First of all, an overview on the different experimental diagnostics used for the characterization of these non-thermal plasmas is given followed by a short description of the different models (streamer dynamics, gas dynamics and chemical kinetics coupled with models of basic data calculation) required for complementing such experimental investigations. Then, emphasis is placed on the basic data of charged particles (electrons and ions) needed for streamer dynamics modeling and particularly on the necessity to use accurate and validated basic data in order to have a quantitative (not only qualitative) description of the phenomena and processes occurring in such discharges. An overview is given on the calculations and the fitting methods of collision cross sections and swarm coefficients of the data of charged particles and their validation using, in particular, pulsed Townsend measurements for experimental comparisons. Swarm coefficients are calculated from a multi-term solution of the Boltzmann equation or from Monte Carlo simulation. Some illustrative results are given in the case of the simulations of a dc positive point-to-plane corona discharge in air at atmospheric pressure. The effect of consideration of some basic data, particularly those of polyatomic ions, is shown on the discharge development and the radical production.

The ion swarm data, namely, the reduced mobility, diffusion, and reaction rates of the positive tetratomic ions O4+ and N2O2+ in N2 and O2 have been determined from a Monte Carlo simulation using calculated and fitted elastic and inelastic cross sections. The elastic momentum transfer cross sections have been determined from a semiclassical Jeffreys-Wentzell-Kramers-Brilouin (JWKB) approximation based on a rigid core potential model well adapted for polyatomic ions. The inelastic cross sections have been approximated from considerations based on the N4+/O2 and N4+/N2 systems. The validated cross section sets in pure N2 and O2 have been used to determine the O4+ and N2O2+ swarm data in dry air over a large E/N range up to 1000 Td. However, due to the lack of experimental ion transport coefficients necessary for a more rigorous cross section validation, the present data, validated only at low E/N, should be regarded as a first approximation, susceptible to improvements as soon as measurements of ion transport coefficients become available in the literature. Then, the present data are used in a two-dimensional discharge dynamics fluid model for the simulation of the primary and secondary streamers for the case of a positive point-to-plane corona discharge in dry air. Relevant characteristics such as discharge current, charged particle densities, space charge electric field and the variation in active species like N and O radicals (very useful in many nonthermal plasma applications) are analyzed and discussed with and without the consideration of three positive tetratomic ions (N4+, O4+, and N2O2+). More particularly, the non-negligible effect of O4+, in the dynamics of the primary and secondary streamers during the discharge propagation and relaxation stages is highlighted with an emphasis on the role of the related kinetic reactions occurring between the different charged particles.