Atmospheric Pressure Plasmas

Plasma is one of the most fundamental states of matter other than solid, liquid and gaseous. It consists of positive ions, neutral atoms, electrons, negative ions and neutral or charged molecules can be identified. Generally, plasma can be classified according to its gas temperature. Atmospheric-pressure plasma (APP), is actually a partly ionized gas. Non-equilibrium APP has an ability to produce a mixture of reactive species including, reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS), which can act as biologically active agents. This book discusses the processes, technology and applications of APPs. The first chapter examines the influence of APPs on biomolecules. Chapter Two focuses on the development and application of optical techniques for diagnosing gliding arc discharge at atmospheric pressure, emphasis being placed on gaining a better understanding of the spatial, temporal and spectral discharge characteristics. Chapter Three presents several approaches for such free-form plasma activation of different plastics and polymers based on direct and indirect dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasmas. Chapter Four reviews the combination of plasmachemical oxidation PCO and atmospheric pressure chemical vapour deposition APCVD for creating novel functional surfaces. Chapter Five reviews the impact of gas diffusion barrier film synthesis on polymers by atmospheric pressure plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition. Chapter Six presents and discusses some of the most recent applications of microwave plasmas, with the view of understanding microwave plasma behaviour. Chapter Seven discusses selective synthesis of self-standing carbon nanostructures using microwave driven plasmas at atmospheric pressure conditions. Chapter Eight studies the application of non-thermal atmospheric pressure plasma in textiles. Chapter Nine reviews a current state of the art and opportunities for the use of plasma surface treatment in the coating and conversion of paper products.