Atmospheric-pressure DC exited discharge with liquid electrode: Self-organized formation of luminescence and gas generation by plasma-induced electrolysis*

Atmospheric pressure DC excuted glow discharge with liquid electrodes has a variety of interesting characteristics, but there are many phenomena that are not fully understood.

When a discharge is generated with a liquid as the anode, under certain conditions, a self-organized luminescence pattern is formed on the anode surface. We have confirmed that the presence of oxygen gas is a condition for pattern formation, but we investigated whether it is the negative ions or another factor that is responsible for the pattern formation.

When DC glow discharge is generated using liquid electrodes, electrolysis occurs because an electric current also flows through the liquid. It is known that in general electrolysis, oxygen gas is generated from the anode and hydrogen gas from the cathode at a ratio of 1:2, but the gases generated in plasma-induced electrolysis are not well known. We investigated the generation of gases by electrolysis induced by plasma by generating a DC glow discharge in water. It was confirmed that hydrogen gas is also generated from the anode in plasma-induced electrolysis, and that the gas is generated at a higher production rate than in a normal electrolysis reaction when compared at the same current value.