Simulations of High Non-Uniform Electric Field in Dielectric Barrier Electrode System

An electric field in the dielectric barrier electrode system is necessary for ozone production because ozone is produced by the electric discharge of O2 under a high-intensity electric field. The gas discharge plasmas contain energetic particles, such as electrons, ions, atoms, and radicals. The recombination of the O atom and O2 in the plasma will form O3. In this paper, the dependence of DC electric field formation on electrode geometry and the gap between electrodes and dielectric materials were examined by using computational modeling. Thus, a set of electrode geometry, gap distance, and dielectric material were obtained for high-intensity and uniform electric field generation. The COMSOL Multiphysics software was used for the modeling. Among the electrode geometries of plate-plate, pin-plate and mesh-plate, the mesh-plate generated high-intensity and uniform electric field. In the modeling, dielectric materials, including quartz, mica, alumina, and water, were compared. The highest intensity of electric field occurred on the water surface. HIGHLIGHTS When the gap distance between two parallel electrodes is less than 100 mm, the electric field in the gap is constant, independent of the space A high-intensity and uniform electric field is generated in the gap between the dielectric and grounded electrodes when a fine mesh high-voltage electrode is utilized With the fine mesh electrode, the electric field is about two times higher than the conventional plate electrodes, whereas the electric field uniformity was about 90 %. Therefore the barrier discharge will be initiated with lower high voltage GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT