A Cold Planar Nitrogen-Based Atmospheric-Pressure Dielectric Barrier Discharge Jet With Enhanced UV Emission and Radical Generation Using Short Electrodes

In this paper, a planar nitrogen-based atmospheric-pressure dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) jet with enhanced UV emission and radical generation, and much lower power consumption and gas temperature using shorter electrodes as compared with a previously developed DBD jet is presented. The highest UV intensity (five times larger) and radical generation (two times larger) in the DBD jet region are found to occur when the electrode length is 1 cm. Corresponding jet gas temperature and power consumption are 31 °C and 39 W, respectively. The 1-cm DBD jet was used to treat polylactide film for enhancing its hydrophilic properties. The results show that a contact angle of 28.4° could be obtained with a residence time of 4 s. The resulting 1-cm DBD jet may provide an efficient surface treatment tool for delicate industrial and biomedical devices/materials.