Ch. Kruger et al., EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF ATMOSPHERIC-PRESSURE NONEQUILIBRIUM PLASMA CHEMISTRY, IEEE transactions on plasma science, 25(5), 1997, pp. 1042-1051
Atmospheric pressure plasmas are frequently considered to be in local
thermodynamic equilibrium due to the high frequency of collisional pro
cesses which drive the plasma state toward a Maxwell-Boltzmann equilib
rium. However, various forms of thermodynamic, ionizational, and chemi
cal nonequilibrium have been demonstrated and investigated in atmosphe
ric pressure plasma environments over the last several years, and the
nonequilibrium behavior of such systems can be quite significant, The
investigation, understanding, and exploitation of atmospheric pressure
nonequilibrium plasma chemistry is necessary to the further expansion
of plasma-based systems into mainstream manufacturing and processing
applications. Several experimental programs to investigate the fundame
ntal processes of atmospheric pressure nonequilibrium plasma chemistry
and the application of this nonequilibrium to various chemical system
s have been undertaken in our laboratories. The results of these inves
tigations have shed light on the kinetics behind various forms of atmo
spheric pressure nonequilibrium chemistry, and have provided insights
into the beneficial control of nonequilibrium plasma chemistry for pro
cessing applications.