Electrical and spectroscopic diagnostics of a single-stage plasma-catalysis system: Effect of packing with TiO2

The influence of adding TiO2 on the electrical and spectroscopic characteristics of a N2 dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) has been investigated in a single-stage plasma-catalysis system. The introduction of the catalyst into the electrode gap leads to a transition in the discharge behaviour. The presence of the TiO2 pellets in the discharge significantly increases the vibrational temperature of N2 in the DBD, which suggests that the interaction of plasma and catalyst has a strong effect on the electron energy distribution function in the discharge with an increase in electron density in the high-energy tail of the distribution function. © 2011 IOP Publishing Ltd.