Optical diagnostic and reactive species characterization of atmospheric pressure argon plasma jet under various operating conditions*

Atmospheric pressure plasma jets (APPJs) have attracted significant research attention due to their simple design and low fabrication cost. Several studies have been conducted to demonstrate the viability of APPJs in various applications such as surface treatment, biomedical, material synthesis, and water treatment. However, tuning the plasma operating parameters is critical to producing the optimum amount of reactive chemical species (RCS) required for a specific application without deviating from the nonthermal nature of the plasma. This is possible only by understanding inter relationship between the plasma parameters and their influence on the RCS generation. In this work, we developed a flexible APPJ reactor setup and performed the plasma diagnostic using optical emission spectroscopy coupled with a collisional radiative model. The information of electron temperature (T_e), density (n_e) was estimated as a function of various operating parameters such as nozzle size, flow rate, and gas mixture. The characterization of RCS is also carried out under different operating conditions. A correlation between operating conditions such as jet nozzle size, flow rate, gas medium, and operating electrical signal, and the production of reactive chemical species is established. A detailed description of the APPJ setup, optical emission spectroscopy measurements, collisional radiative model, and RCS characterization will be presented during the conference.