Influence of the Mesh Structure on the Uniformity of Flexible Surface Dielectric Barrier Discharge in Air

In the pulse-driven flexible surface dielectric barrier discharge (SDBD) system with a mesh-like design, the interactions between micro-discharges that occur within the mesh pores are crucial for achieving discharge uniformity. Therefore, in this work, the effect of mesh structure parameters, including mesh shape, size and mesh spacing on the discharge uniformity is investigated by Intensified Charge Coupled Device (ICCD) image and gray scale analysis methods, and the discharge intensity and emission spectrum of N₂ are also studied. Our research confirms that the uniform discharge appears with circular mesh structure, compared to hexagonal and square mesh. In our case, discharge suppression has occurred on sharp corners exhibited by ICCD images, indicating that the space charge interaction might play a significant role in the propagation of plasma. The smaller mesh aperture and spacing, the more densely of micro-discharge, which indicates the discharge uniformity becomes better. The temperature of the surface mesh electrode increases with decreasing aperture and mesh spacing, which is closely related to discharge uniformity. It can be demonstrated by electric field simulation that the energy density difference between the mesh edges and center reduces significantly when the aperture is decreased, circular meshes exhibit the smallest energy density variation. This work provides a new perspective for understanding and analyzing the effect of mesh structure on the uniformity of SDBD.