Research on the propagation and homogeneity of surface plasma driven by mesh electrode

Abstract In the pulse-driven surface dielectric barrier discharge system with a mesh-like design, the interactions between micro-discharges that occur within the meshes are crucial for achieving discharge homogeneous propagation. In this work, the effect of mesh structure parameters, including mesh shape and size on the discharge characteristics are investigated. Specifically, by applying the Gauss’s law and Poisson equation for the circle and square, respectively, the analytical solutions of electric field distribution are derived. It is found that the electric field strength at the corners of square mesh electrode is weaker than that at sides. However, the circular mesh discharge plasma is homogeneous distributed on the edge of the meshes. Furthermore, the particle tracking results show that the velocity vectors and the occupancy of electrons are almost the same at each position in the circular mesh edge. However, the electron speed is slower and the occupancy is weaker in the corners of square mesh. The spatial and temporal distribution of plasma parameters and the byproducts are analyzed. Numerical simulation results show that the propagation characteristics of the plasma inside the mesh depend on the mesh size, and reducing the mesh size is more conducive to the homogeneous propagation of the plasma to the mesh center. It is noteworthy that the discharge images of square mesh exhibit an X-shaped dark channel, which also reflect the non-homogeneity in the discharge plasma. This work provides a new perspective for the cognition and analysis of the propagation and homogeneity of atmospheric pressure mesh SDBD.