Physics and applications of atmospheric non-thermal air plasma with reference to environment

Since air is a natural part of our environment, special attention is given to the study of plasmas in air at atmospheric pressure and their applications. This fact promoted the study of electrical conduction in air-like mixtures, i.e. mixtures containing an electronegative gas component. If the ionization growth is not limited its temporal evolution leads to spark formation, i.e. a thermal plasma of several thousand kelvins in a quasi-local thermodynamic equilibrium state. But before reaching such a thermal state, a plasma sets up where the electrons increase their energy characterized by an electron temperature T _e much higher than that of heavy species T or T₊ for the ions. Since the plasma is no longer characterized by only one temperature T, it is said to be in a non-thermal plasma (NTP) state. Practical ways are listed to prevent electron ionization from going beyond the NTP states. Much understanding of such NTP may be gathered from the study of the simple paradigmatic case of a discharge induced between a sharp positively stressed point electrode facing a grounded negative plane electrode. Some physical properties will be gathered from such configurations and links underlined between these properties and some associated applications, mostly environmental. Aerosol filtration and electrostatic precipitators, pollution control by removal of hazardous species contained in flue gas exhaust, sterilization applications for medical purposes and triggering fuel combustion in vehicle motors are among such applications nowadays.