Direct current dielectric barrier discharges under voltages below the ionization potential of neutrals in electrode systems with one-dimensional nanostructures

摘要

We experimentally investigate the characteristics of dielectric barrier discharges in an electrode system with one-dimensional nanostructures of gap size at micrometer scale. Evidence of quasistationary direct current discharges in air has been observed under the applied voltage several times lower than the first ionization potential of O_2. The results qualitatively agree with the hypothesis on the ionization mechanism of stepwise inelastic collisions within a metastable pool, which is populated through field excitation and inelastic impact between the neutrals and the nanostructures.