A chemical-kinetic model of DBDs in Ar-H2O mixtures

Abstract

A simplified chemical-kinetic model was applied to Ar-H2O dielectric-barrier discharges (DBDs), presuming that dissociation processes are only due to energy transfer from excited Ar species. Good agreement was obtained between the densities of HO, H2, and O2 and experimental data from the literature, whereas a discrepancy for H2O2 could not be explained. The model is useful for designing DBD reactors and process development. Steady-state densities of H atoms increase with decreasing fractions of (Formula presented.) which should be kept below 0.1% to obtain a large zone of virtually constant and large H-atom density in the DBD reactor, whereas the HO density is hardly affected by (Formula presented.). O2 contaminations must be kept well below 100 ppm in to attain maximum H-atom densities.