Numerical Analysis of Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Produced by a Dielectric Barrier Discharge in a Mixture of Ar/CO2

Atmospheric pressure plasmas produced by a dielectric barrier discharge in a gas atmosphere of Ar and Ar/CO
₂
have been numerically investigated. A 1-D plasma discharge and a chemical 0-D model have been coupled. The simulation results for the electric current are benchmarked against experimental results. Impurities seem to affect the discharge characteristics significantly. First, impurities are able to “quench” and reduce the amount of metastables, decreasing the Penning ionization. The deactivation of the Penning ionization from the model leads to a transitory state between glow and filamentary discharges, i.e., pseudoglow discharge, in the gas atmosphere of Ar/CO
₂
. Second, the addition of electronegative impurities to the model, namely, oxygen, lead to relevant changes in the electron density and the electric current, matching the experimental current in an improved way. The reactive species O and O
₃
reach a maximum in their number density during the first minute of operation, undergoing a reduction of at least one order of magnitude in the following minutes. This behavior corresponds well with the observed effects of Ar/CO
₂
plasma on Photobacterium phosphoreum bacteria.