Influence of the interelectrode distance on the production of nanoparticles by means of atmospheric pressure inert gas DC glow discharge

This work is aimed at investigating the influence of the inter-electrode spacing on the production rate and size of nanoparticles generated by evaporating a cathode on an atmospheric pressure dc glow discharge. Experiments are conducted in the configuration of two vertically aligned cylindrical electrodes in upward coaxial flow with copper as a consumable cathode and nitrogen as a carrier gas. A constant current of 0.5 A is delivered to the electrodes and the inter-electrode distance spanned from 0.5 to 10 mm. Continuous stable nanoparticle production is attained by optimal coaxial flow convection cooling of the cathode. Both the particle production rate and the primary particle size increase with the inter-electrode spacing up to nearly 5 mm and strongly decrease with an increasing inter-electrode distance beyond 5 mm. Production rates in the range of 1 mg h−1 of very small nanoparticles (<10 nm) are attained by a micro glow discharge (<1 mm); while glow discharges of intermediate sizes (<5 mm) result in production rates of up to 10 mg h−1 and primary particles of sizes between 10 and 20 nm. No correlation is found between the measured spatially averaged plasma parameters and nanoparticle production. Since the latter is largely determined by the properties of the cathode surface, spatially resolved spectrometric measurements are needed to discern between the positive column and the cathode region of the glow discharge plasma.