Plasma–liquid interactions: an experiment and simulation study on plasma dynamic behaviors near the gas–liquid interfacial layer

Abstract

Abstract Plasma–liquid interaction processes are essential to various plasma applications such as sewage disposal, biomedicine, and synthesis of nanomaterials. However, the near gas–liquid interfacial behavior of plasma property remains inadequately understood, hindering the controllability of the application process. This study combines experimental diagnostics and simulations to investigate the production and transport of plasma-generated reactive species near (∼35 μm) the gas–liquid interfacial layer. The experimental results are used to benchmark densities obtained from a zero-dimensional plasma chemical kinetics simulation, which reveals the time evolutions of plasma-generated active species. A large number of neutral particles (like OH, H2O2) and water cluster ions (like H9O4 +) were produced as a result of the evaporation effect of the cathode solution surface. The estimation of energy flux from the gaseous plasma to liquid surface showed that the hydration process of positive ions plays the key role in the resulted water evaporation at the gas–liquid interfacial layer.