Performance of plasma source and irradiation for optical properties improvement of gelatin/silver composite

Abstract

This article describes the design, development and operation of a plasma generator using nitrogen gas for various materials processing applications. It consists of two electrodes, anode and cathode, made of palladium rods of different diameters serve as the plasma source. The plasma between the anode and cathode was formed at different pressures using nitrogen gas. When compared the palladium electrodes to graphite ones, the discharge characteristics of palladium electrodes without and with Teflon insulators that covered all electrodes save the head were investigated. The discharge characteristics at the optimum anode-cathode distance and the diameter of palladium electrodes without and with a Teflon insulator were compared. Also, the discharge characteristics for palladium and graphite electrodes at the optimum anode-cathode distance and electrode diameter without and with Teflon insulator were compared. The gelatin/silver composite specimens (for solar cells) were exposed to nitrogen plasma at different intervals. The photoluminescence and ultraviolet-visible spectra of these specimens were analyzed and the results appeared to show that the specimens were sensitive to the visible spectrum. Except plasma irradiation time of 360 s, when the optical band gap energy rose, the band gap decreased as nitrogen plasma irradiation times increased.