Generation of hydrogen peroxide by pulse discharge in water and its affecting factors

A dielectric-coated sphere-cylinder electrode was designed and used for the generation of volume discharge in water. The generation of hydrogen peroxide was determined by the colorimetric method. The effect of different conditions such as pulse amplitude, pulse width and water conductivity was taken into consideration. The experimental results demonstrate that as voltage amplitude increases, the generation rate of hydrogen peroxide increases. The discharge transits from streamer mode to arc mode when the applied voltage is high enough. Meanwhile, the generation rate increases sharply. With the same voltage amplitude, the generation of hydrogen peroxide decreases with the increasing water conductivity, while increases with the increasing pulse frequency. The concentration of hydrogen peroxide can reach 0.2 mmol/L with 3.3 W power consumption after 120 min, which demonstrates the efficiency of the discharge reactor.