Low-voltage pulsed plasma discharges inside water using a bubble self-generating parallel plate electrode with a porous ceramic

Characteristics of pulsed bubbles discharges in water were investigated using parallel punched plate electrodes with a porous thin ceramic plate inserted between two metal plates. The micro-bubbles were generated just beneath the porous ceramic plate by flowing gas through it. The transition from spiky dielectric barrier discharges to pulsed glow discharges enables efficient bubble discharges at a relatively low voltage of 1.8 similar to 4.0 kV of the 5 kHz square-waves with a pulse-width of about 750 ns. With 80% Ar and 20% O-2 mixture gas at 4.0 kV, the 50 mg/l Indigo Carmine aqueous solution was efficiently decolorized within about 3 min. (C) 2013 American Institute of Physics.