Decomposition of Carbon Particles on a Glass Surface by Plasma Generated Using Discharge Electrodes Combined With Floating Electrodes

Incineration of carbon particles by nonthermal plasma using surface dielectric barrier discharge (SDBD) units were conducted, and their performances were compared with and without floating electrode. The floating electrodes were attached a few millimeters from the discharge electrode edges to create a potential gradient along the dielectric surface to extend the plasma region. Carbon black was used as a model for the soot collected from diesel exhaust gas. The distributions of carbon particles on the SDBD unit were analyzed by processing the images obtained with a photo scanner. The results show that the reduction of carbon particles was enhanced by the floating electrode for all the cases of carbon loadings (0.11–0.45 mg per the SDBD unit) with no increase in power consumption. The maximum increase in the reduction ratio was approximately 43% with 0.11 mg carbon loading. These results contribute to the development of PM (particulate matters) aftertreatment devices for diesel engines using electrostatic and nonthermal plasma.