Fast gas heating in N2/O2 mixtures under nanosecond surface dielectric barrier discharge: the effects of gas pressure and composition.

The fractional electron power quickly transferred to heat in non-equilibrium plasmas was studied experimentally and theoretically in N(2)/O(2) mixtures subjected to high electric fields. Measurements were performed in and after a nanosecond surface dielectric barrier discharge at various (300-750 Torr) gas pressures and (50-100%) N(2) percentages. Observations showed that the efficiency of fast gas heating is almost independent of pressure and becomes more profound when the fraction of O(2) in N(2)/O(2) mixtures increases. The processes that contribute towards the fast transfer of electron energy to thermal energy were numerically simulated under the conditions considered. Calculations were compared with measurements and the main channels of fast gas heating were analysed at the gas pressures, compositions and electric fields under study. It was shown that efficient fast gas heating in the mixtures with high fraction of O(2) is due to a notable contribution of heat release during quenching of electronically excited N(2) states in collisions with O(2) molecules and to ion-ion recombination. The effect of hydrocarbon addition to air on fast gas heating was numerically estimated. It was concluded that the fractional electron power transferred to heat in air, as a first approximation, could be used to estimate this effect in lean and stoichiometric hydrocarbon-air mixtures.