With the rapid development of plasma technology, plasma activated water has recently been introduced to agricultural sectors with the potential to increase the germination, growth and grain yield of crops.
Plasma discharge devices to activate water are currently divided into two types. One is to contact various chemical active species produced after plasma discharge in the gas phase with liquid to form secondary active species in it. This is achieved by plasma injection or natural diffusion of plasma activated species such as surface dielectric barrier discharge. The other one is the direct contact of liquid with plasma discharge, and the water is placed in the discharge space. This is achieved by direct plasma discharge between several electrodes, such as a needle electrode or a plate electrode, and water surfaces.
An Song Il, a researcher at the Institute of Nano Science and Technology, has performed water treatment by plasma flow which he formed by high-frequency high-pressure discharge and contacted with water, and compared the production of active species according to two discharge modes (discharge mode using dielectric barrier discharge and discharge mode using a spark discharge between two needle electrodes and water surfaces).
The experimental results show that the plasma treatment mode by dielectric barrier discharge was higher in the production of active species when compared with plasma activated water treated by spark discharge. Therefore, he has concluded that the discharge method using dielectric barrier discharge is superior for mass production of plasma activated water for agricultural applications.
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