Study of Non-Thermal DC Arc Plasma of CH4/Ar at Atmospheric Pressure Using Optical Emission Spectroscopy and Mass Spectrometry*supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 11035005, 11475174, 50876101) and USTC-NSRL Association Funding (No. KY2090130001). (September 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Liao, Mengran; Wang, Yu; Wu, Hanfeng; Li, Hui; Xia, Weidong
• Is Part Of: Plasma science and technology. Volume 17:Number 9(2015:Sep.)
• Page Start: 743
• Page End: 748
• Publication Date: 2015-09
• Subjects: Plasma (Ionized gases) -- Periodicals; 530.44
• DOI: 10.1088/1009-0630/17/9/05
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1009-0630

Abstract

<abstract> <title>Abstract</title> <p>Non-thermal C/H/Ar plasmas are widely applied to carbonaceous material production and processing. In this work, plasma parameters and gaseous species of the atmospheric non-thermal C/H/Ar plasmas produced by an atmospheric-pressure DC arc discharge generator in CH₄/Ar were investigated. The voltage-current characteristics were measured for different CH₄/Ar ratios. Optical emission spectroscopy was employed to analyze the electron excitation temperature, gas temperature and electron density under various discharge conditions. The hydrocarbon molecules produced in the CH₄/Ar plasmas were detected with photoionization mass spectrometry. The optical spectral results demonstrated that the electron excitation temperature was 0.4-1 eV, the gas temperature was 2800-4200 K and the electron density was in the range of (5-20)×10¹⁵ cm⁻³. The mass spectrum indicated that a variety of unsaturated hydrocarbons (C₂H₄, C₃H₆, C₆H₆, etc.) and several highly unsaturated hydrocarbons (C₄H₂, C₅H₆, etc.) were produced in the non-thermal arc plasmas.</p> </abstract>