Plasma-catalyst interaction studied in a single pellet DBD reactor: Dielectric constant effect on plasma dynamics

摘要

A novel single dielectric pellet DBD that is designed to facilitate studying the interactionudbetween plasmas and catalysts is presented. The influence of material dielectric constant onudplasma dynamics across a range of applied voltages is determined through the use of electricaludcharacterisation combined with videos of the discharge. Different discharge modes in nitrogenudare observed and their behaviour is characterised. A particular focus is given to the phenomenonudknown as ‘partial discharging’. This is where incomplete plasma formation occurs between theudelectrodes of the reactor, which may have implications for the fair testing of catalysts in packedudbed reactors. Additionally, the occurrence of an ‘almond shaped’ QV plot in the event of pointto-pointuddischarging in PBRs is explained. This work provides easily implemented analyticaludtechniques that can be applied to understand the behaviour of plasmas within packed bed DBDudreactors.