Liquid treatment with a plasma jet surrounded by a gas shield: effect of the treated substrate and gas shield geometry on the plasma effluent conditions

• Published in: Journal of physics. D, Applied physics Applied physics, 2024-03, Vol.57 (11), p.115204
• Main Authors: Heirman, Pepijn, Verloy, Ruben, Baroen, Jana, Privat-Maldonado, Angela, Smits, Evelien, Bogaerts, Annemie
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 2D fluid modeling; atmospheric pressure plasma jet; gas shield; plasma-liquid; treatment
• ISSN: 0022-3727; 1361-6463
• DOI: 10.1088/1361-6463/ad146b

The treatment of a well plate by an atmospheric pressure plasma jet is common for in vitro plasma medicine research. Here, reactive species are largely produced through the mixing of the jet effluent with the surrounding atmosphere. This mixing can be influenced not only by the ambient conditions, but also by the geometry of the treated well. To limit this influence and control the atmosphere, a shielding gas is sometimes applied. However, the interplay between the gas shield and the well geometry has not been investigated. In this work, we developed a 2D-axisymmetric computational fluid dynamics model of the kINPen plasma jet, to study the mixing of the jet effluent with the surrounding atmosphere, with and without gas shield. Our computational and experimental results show that the choice of well type can have a significant influence on the effluent conditions, as well as on the effectiveness of the gas shield. Furthermore, the geometry of the shielding gas device can substantially influence the mixing as well. Our results provide a deeper understanding of how the choice of setup geometry can influence the plasma treatment, even when all other operating parameters are unchanged.