Influence of Thermionic Emission from Macroparticles on the Concentration of Background Gas Ions in Thermal Dusty Plasma

The nature of the influence of thermionic emission from a condensed phase on the concentration of ions in equilibrium thermal plasma has been studied using an analytical model. Spherical tungsten nanoparticles have been considered as a dust subsystem. It has been revealed that depending on the effective ionization potential of background gas atoms, two regimes of the charge state of the system are realized: with a positively and negatively charged dust component. It has been established that the size of nanoparticles affects the concentration of background gas ions in different ways under these regimes.