Generation of a planar direct-current glow discharge in atmospheric pressure air using rod array electrode

Scaling up atmospheric pressure glow discharge to large volume is desirable for low-temperature plasma applications. In this paper, an approach to generate a glow discharge in a planar shape with a fairly large volume is proposed in atmospheric pressure air through utilizing a direct-current excited rod array electrode. The planar discharge with a wide gap originates from three discrete discharges with a narrow gap. Based on electrical method and optical emission spectroscopy, it is found that gap voltage increases, while discharge current remains constant with increasing the gap width. Temperature and electron density of the discharge decrease with increasing the gap width.