Flexible Surface Dielectric Barrier Discharge Electrodes for Biomedical Applications - Effects of Electrode Geometry and Dielectric Material on Plasma Parameters

Dielectric Barrier Discharges (DBD) have been studied for a variety of applications, ranging from ozone generation [1] to wound healing [2] and sanitation of fresh produce [3]. Surface DBDs, as opposed to volume DBDs, have the advantage that the plasma can be ignited at lower voltages, and the treated object does not become part of the electric circuit. This allows the design of flexible electrodes, composed of alternate dielectric materials with various geometries. These flexible geometries open up new possibilities of plasma application, (e.g., in-package sanitation of fresh produce) or other areas where conformable plasma electrodes are beneficial. With flexibility comes variability of the plasma itself; different geometries and materials impact the plasma behavior. In this contribution, we will explore different dielectric material (paper, PET, and polyimide) and a variety of geometries, ranging from simple rectangular electrodes to complex hexagonally-latticed electrodes. The impact of dielectric material and electrode geometry on plasma parameters, obtained from electrical measurements in conjunction with circuit modelling as well as optical emission spectroscopy in combination with numerical simulation, is presented and discussed. Reduced electric fields vary insignificantly for different electrode geometries but are impacted by the dielectric material. A linear correlation between dissipated power and the electrode perimeter was observed for the geometries tested [4].