Influence of air and water vapor on EEDF, plasma parameters, and the main RONS in atmospheric pressure low temperature helium plasmas: Global model approach

Abstract

A zero-dimensional global model is developed with an aim to study the influence of air and water vapor on an electron energy distribution function, electron density, and temperature as well as on the chemical composition of atmospheric pressure helium plasmas, with special focus on the main reactive oxygen and nitrogen species important for applications of low temperature plasmas. The main channels for the production and consumption of electrons and electron energy gain and loss are examined by a global model based on a parametric study with variations of the mole fractions of air and water vapor. The calculations are done for 100, 1000, and 10 000 ppm of air in plasma, and for each of these values, the content of water vapor is taken to be 100, 1000, 2000, …, to 10 000 ppm. The variations of the most important production and consumption processes for reactive oxygen and nitrogen species are analyzed in detail. According to the results presented in this paper, water vapor highly contributes to electronegativity of the plasma through pronounced attachment of electrons, which then leads to an increase in electron temperature. For high water vapor content, vibrational excitations of water molecules are one of the main electron energy loss processes, leading to a further effect on the plasma composition. Water decreases concentrations of atomic oxygen, nitrogen, and ozone, while there is an increase in nitrogen oxide, OH, H2O2, and HO2 concentrations. Cross-sectional data for electron scattering on ground and excited state neutrals are mainly taken from the Quantemol-DB database.