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Updated: Jun 16, 2026

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Non-equilibrium Microwave Plasma for Efficient High Temperature Chemistry
Published on: August 1, 2017
Discharge cavitation during microwave electrochemistry at micrometre-sized electrodes
Liza Rassaei1, Michaela Nebel, Neil V Rees
1Department of Chemistry, University of Bath, Bath, UK BA2 7AY.
Abstract:
Microwave induced activation of electrochemical processes at microelectrodes (ca. 0.8 microm diameter) immersed in aqueous electrolyte media is shown to be driven by (i) continuous stable cavitation (giving rise to Faradaic current enhancements by up to three orders of magnitude) and (ii) transient discharge cavitation on the micros timescale (giving rise to cathodic plasma current spikes and more violent surface erosion effects).
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