Conversion of carbon dioxide in atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharges with different electrode configurations

The choice of electrode configuration and dielectric material is critical to the discharge process and plasma characteristics of a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactor. In this study, a new electrode configuration of DBD reactor with copper mesh as electrode inserted between dielectrics is proposed, which has a much higher capacitance than the conventional double-dielectric layer DBD reactor. Two materials with different relative dielectric permittivities, alumina and zirconia, are chosen as dielectrics for an experimental comparison of CO2 decomposition. The experimental results show that the conversion rate of CO2 for the reactor with copper mesh inserted between dielectrics are higher than that of the corresponding double dielectric layer reactor under the same discharge power, and the conversion rate of CO2 with zirconia as a dielectric material is higher than the case of alumina as a dielectric. Further analysis of discharge characteristics shows that for the reactor with copper mesh inserted between dielectrics, the applied voltage required for discharge is significantly reduced, the amount of transferred charge is significantly increased, and the number of micro-discharge current pulses as well as the average lifetime during a single voltage cycle are also considerably increased, leading to an increase in the CO2 discharge efficiency and conversion rate.