Investigation of gas-liquid discharge characteristics in atmospheric air and argon

A discharge in contact with water in atmospheric air and argon (Ar) was presented. The electrical and optical characteristics were experimentally investigated and compared in different voltage ranges. The waveforms of voltage and current revealed this discharge didn't happen symmetrically in each period due to the asymmetric geometry of the reactor. The OH intensity obtained by Optical Emission Spectrometer (OES), discharge power P and transfer charge Q analyzed by the Lissajous method, and rotational temperature T-r and vibrational temperature T-v fitted by LIFBASE software based on OH spectra were bigger in Ar-H2O dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) than in air-H2O at 11 and 12 kV, except only T-v of Ar-H2O DBD was a little bit smaller than that of air-H2O DBD at 12 kV. T-r and T-v indicated these two gas-H2O DBDs were non thermal-equilibrium discharges. This experimental work is helpful in comprehensively understanding the discharge manner of gas-liquid at electrical, physical, and chemical aspects.