Characteristics of atmospheric pressure plasma jet generated by compact and inexpensive high voltage modulator

An atmospheric pressure plasma jet has been successfully generated using a compact high voltage modulator driven by 12V alkaline batteries. A jet nozzle was composed of a quartz tube with two cylindrical electrodes. The grounded electrode was rolled on the tube and the powered one was inserted in the tube for discharging at lower voltage. V–Q Lissajous analysis of the plasma jet indicated that energy and power consumed for the plasma generation were linear along the distance between the electrodes. Length of the plasma plume from the tip of the tube was 11mm for the gap length of 5mm and the input voltage DC of 12V. At the input voltage, the energy and power consumed for the plasma generation were 4.1μJ and 0.12W, respectively. Optical emission spectroscopy analysis of the plasma showed that the plasma contained hydroxyl radicals and exited nitrogen molecules which are chemically active species. The plasma jet can be applied to plasma cleaning for material surface though was generated with the alkaline batteries.