The dynamics of ozone generation and mode transition in air surface micro-discharge plasma at atmospheric pressure

We present the transient, dynamic behavior of ozone production in surface micro-discharge (SMD) plasma in ambient air. Ultraviolet absorption spectroscopy at 254nm was used to measure the time development of ozone density in a confined volume. We observed that ozone density increases monotonically over 1000 ppm for at least a few minutes when the input power is lower than ∼0.1 W/cm ². Interestingly, when input power is higher than ∼0.1 W/cm ², ozone density starts to decrease in a few tens of seconds at a constant power density, showing a peak ozone density. A model calculation suggests that the ozone depletion at higher power density is caused by quenching reactions with nitrogen oxides that are in turn created by vibrationally excited nitrogen molecules reacting with O atoms. The observed mode transition is significantly different from classical ozone reactors in that the transition takes place over time at a constant power. In addition, we observed a positive correlation between time-averaged ozone density and the inactivation rate of Escherichia coli on adjacent agar plates, suggesting that ozone plays a key role in inactivating bacteria under the conditions considered here.