Study of Hydrogen Peroxide Generation by Water Surface Discharge

This paper reports on experimental studies of chemical activities of pulse discharge plasmas generated in contact with water surface. The pulse discharge propagated in the form of streamer channels along the water surface. Hydrogen peroxide was used as a chemical probe for the evaluation. Point-to-plane electrode geometry and pulse high voltage of positive polarity was used for the experiments. A magnetic pulse compression pulsed power modulator was employed. Effects on discharge characteristics of the air gap distance between the high voltage electrode tip and water surface as well as solution conductivity were determined. The discharge characteristics were identical for different gap distances and solution conductivities; meanwhile, the streamer channels' length and their light emissions on water surface were changed with conductivity. No significant effect of gap distance between the needle tip and water surface on the formation of H2O2 by the pulsed water surface discharge was determined. However, the formation rates of H2O2 decreased with increasing medium conductivity.