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Results for “plasma-induced liquid phase chemistry”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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Probing time-resolved plasma-driven solution electrochemistry in a falling liquid film plasma reactor: Identification of HO$^−_2$ as a plasma-derived reducing agent

Many applications involving plasma–liquid interactions depend on the reactive processes occurring at the plasma–liquid interface. In this article, we report on a falling liquid film plasma reactor allowing for in situ optical absorption measurements of the time-dependence of the ferricyanide/ferrocyanide redox reactivity, complemented with ex situ measurement of the decomposition of formate. We found excellent agreement between the measured decomposition percentages and the diffusion-limited decomposition of formate by interfacial plasma-enabled reactions, except at high pH in thin liquid films, indicating the involvement of previously unexplored plasma-induced liquid phase chemistry enabled by long-lived reactive species. We also determined that high pH facilitates a reduction-favoring environment in ferricyanide/ferrocyanide redox solutions. In situ conversion measurements of a 1:1 ferricyanide/ferrocyanide redox mixture exceed the measured ex situ conversion and show that conversion of a 1:1 ferricyanide/ferrocyanide mixture is strongly dependent on film thickness. We identified three dominant processes: reduction faster than ms time scales for film thicknesses >100 µm, •OH-driven oxidation on time scales of <10 ms, and reduction on 15 ms time scales for film thickness <100 µm. We attribute the slow reduction and larger formate decomposition at high pH to HO$^−_2$ formed from plasma-produced H 2 O 2 enabled by the high pH at the plasma–liquid interface as confirmed experimentally and by computed reaction rates of HO$^−_2$ with ferricyanide. Overall, this work demonstrates the utility of liquid film reactors in enabling the discovery of new plasma-interfacial chemistry and the utility of atmospheric plasmas for electrodeless electrochemistry.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Controlled plasma–droplet interactions: a quantitative study of OH transfer in plasma–liquid interaction

Plasmas in contact with liquids are a rich source of OH radicals and have been extensively studied in the last decade to leverage the ability to generate chemically reactive species in gas phase plasmas to decompose organics. Multiphase transfer of OH radicals is highly transport limited and to overcome transport limits, the plasma activation of aerosols, small liquid droplets, interspersed in the plasma has been proposed. In this work, we report a combined experimental and modeling study of a controlled plasma–droplet interaction experiment using a diffuse RF glow discharge in He + 0.2% H 2 O with detailed plasma diagnostics, ex situ analysis of the plasma-induced chemistry in the droplet containing formate, droplet trajectory and size measurements. This enables a quantitative study of the reactivity transfer of OH from the gas phase plasma to the liquid phase and how its diffusion limitations impact formate decomposition in the water droplet. For a droplet with a diameter of 36 μm, we observed 50% reduction in formate concentration in the droplets after plasma treatment for droplet residence times in the plasma of ~10 ms. These short droplet residence times in the plasma allow in some cases for droplet size reductions of ~5% in spite gas temperatures of 360 K. A one-dimensional reaction–diffusion model was used to calculate the OH transport and formate oxidation inside the droplet and was able to predict the conversion of formate by plasma in a droplet without any fitting parameters. The model further shows that formate conversion is dominated by near-interfacial reactions with OH radicals and is limited by diffusion of formate in the droplet. Here, the results show that a controlled plasma–micro-droplet reactor as reported in this study might be an excellent tool for detailed quantitative plasma–liquid interaction studies.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Plasma-droplet interaction study to assess transport limitations and the role of • OH, O • ,H • ,O 2 (a 1 Δ g ),O 3 , He(2 3 S) and Ar(1s 5 ) in formate decomposition

Plasmas interacting with liquid microdroplets are gaining momentum due to their ability to significantly enhance the reactivity transfer from the gas phase plasma to the liquid. This is, for example, critically important for efficiently decomposing organic pollutants in water. In this contribution, the role of •OH as well as non-•OH-driven chemistry initiated by the activation of small water microdroplets in a controlled environment by diffuse RF glow discharge in He with different gas admixtures (Ar, O 2 and humidified He) at atmospheric pressure is quantified. The effect of short-lived radicals such as O• and H• atoms, singlet delta oxygen (O 2 (a 1 Δ g )), O 3 and metastable atoms of He and Ar, besides •OH radicals, on the decomposition of formate dissolved in droplets was analyzed using detailed plasma diagnostics, droplet characterization and ex situ chemical analysis of the treated droplets. The formate decomposition increased with increasing droplet residence time in the plasma, with ~70% decomposition occurring within ~15 ms of the plasma treatment time. The formate oxidation in the droplets is shown to be limited by the gas phase •OH flux at lower H 2 O concentrations with a significant enhancement in the formate decomposition at the lowest water concentration, attributed to e – /ion-induced reactions. However, the oxidation is diffusion limited in the liquid phase at higher gaseous •OH concentrations. Here, the formate decomposition in He/O 2 plasma was similar, although with an order of magnitude higher O• radical density than the •OH density in the corresponding He/H 2 O plasma. Using a one-dimensional reaction–diffusion model, we showed that O 2 (a 1 Δ g ) and O 3 did not play a significant role and the decomposition was due to O•, and possibly •OH generated in the vapor containing droplet-plasma boundary layer.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Liquid-to-gas transfer of sodium in a liquid anode glow discharge

Solute transfer from the liquid to the gas phase in plasmas has been widely used in analytical chemistry often focused on liquid cathode discharges. In this study, we report on time-resolved absolute density measurements of sodium in a glow discharge plasma with a NaCl solution anode using two-photon absorption laser induced fluorescence. The averaged maximum sodium density is found to be similar to the electron density in the discharge consistent with plasma-induced vapor generation. Random sodium flashes were also observed extending into the plasma afterglow and are attributed to sodium particles falling back on the liquid surface. Cataphoresis can explain the location of the maximum sodium density near the cathode side of the electrode gap rather than near the liquid anode region.

chemical vapor generation↗