Effects of a Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) on Characteristics of Polyaniline Nanoparticles Synthesized by a Solution Plasma Process with an Ar Gas Bubble Channel

Abstract

The quality of polyaniline nanoparticles (PANI NPs) synthesized in plasma polymerization depends on the discharge characteristics of a solution plasma process (SPP). In this paper, the low temperature dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) is introduced to minimize the destruction of aniline molecules induced by the direct current (DC) spark discharge. By adopting the new electrode structure coupled with a gas channel, a low temperature DBD is successfully implemented in a SPP, for the first time, thus inducing an effective interaction between the Ar plasma and aniline monomer. We examine the effects of a low temperature DBD on characteristics of polyaniline nanoparticles synthesized by a SPP with an Ar gas bubble channel. As a result, both carbonization of aniline monomer and erosion of the electrode are significantly reduced, which is confirmed by analyses of the synthesized PANI NPs.

A Review of Plasma Synthesis Methods for Polymer Films and Nanoparticles under Atmospheric Pressure Conditions

“…Since the in-solution plasma is immersed in the solution, only reactions between the plasma and the solution occur in their entirety. Many recent papers about synthesis methods using in-solution plasma have mostly been reported on the formation of NPs [ 103 , 104 , 105 , 106 , 107 , 108 , 109 , 110 , 111 , 112 ].…”

“…Shin et al [ 111 , 112 ] added a gas bubble to the in-solution plasma system. The gas bubble was often used as a plasma channel to enhance in-solution plasma performance in pulsed discharge systems [ 111 ].…”

“…Additionally, Shin et al [ 112 ] also used an asymmetrical electrode structure: the tungsten electrode was placed in a quartz tube for the Ar gas inlet, where its diameter was 0.5 mm and its exact position extruded 1 mm from the end of the capillary quartz tube. On the other hand, a cylindrical copper electrode with a 5 mm width was wrapped around the outside surface of the quartz tube.…”

“…The plasma channel was formed from Ar gas with a flow rate of 100 sccm. A bipolar pulse with a voltage of 16 kV, a frequency of 5 kHz, and a pulse width of 100 μs was employed to generate the in-solution plasma ( Figure 13 b) [ 112 ]. Table 4 displays a summary of this subsection.…”

In-Situ Iodine Doping Characteristics of Conductive Polyaniline Film Polymerized by Low-Voltage-Driven Atmospheric Pressure Plasma

“…Plasma polymerization is a methodology for synthesizing polymeric composites with high crosslinking density from reactive monomer vapors generated via gaseous or solution plasma processes [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ]. In particular, atmospheric pressure (AP) plasma polymerization primarily uses a non-thermal glow discharge to synthesize highly crosslinked polymer films from the various radicals and reactive species generated from the discharge gas, monomer vapor, or atmosphere [ 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ].…”