Pulsed Discharge Plasmas in Contact with Water and their Applications

Abstract

Large-volume pulsed discharge plasmas have been studied to gain insight on their phenomena and to realize their applications in various areas, such as sterilization, water treatment, and cancer treatment. Since 2000, when a review paper titled ‘Streamer Discharges in Liquids and their Application’ was published, a number of related papers have been reported in the literature; these reports are summarized in this review paper. Four types of pulsed power-generated large-volume discharges in contact with water are presented as representative examples. The discharges are reviewed from the perspectives of the physical and chemical phenomena, as follows: the initiation of filamentary and bush-like streamers in water; the propagation and extinction of streamer discharge plasmas; the production, behavior, and collapse of bubbles; the measurement of temperature, density, electric field, shock wave, and radicals; the wide discharge on the water surface. Finally, the applications of these large-volume discharge plasmas are described. © 2020 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.