Understanding and control of streamer propagation, streamer to streamer and streamer-surface interactions in a patterned dielectric barrier discharge

Patterned dielectric barrier discharge (pDBD) is a new type of DBD that uses an array of dielectric boundary surfaces to control the dynamics, streamer-to-streamer, and streamer-surface interactions. This is markedly different from classical packed-bed DBDs, where dielectric pellets are arranged randomly so that the streamer-to-streamer and streamer-surface interactions happen chaotically and cannot be controlled. In this work, space and time resolved experiments and simulations are used to reveal streamer-to-streamer interactions, streamer propagation towards/over different surface topologies and streamer interaction with dielectric and metallic catalysts. The results show that streamer-to-streamer interactions are governed by repulsion and strongly influenced by the gap between adjacent streamers. Due to repulsion, the streamer propagation speed is significantly different in the presence and absence of neighboring streamers. The use of contrasting dielectric shapes is observed to have a strong influence on the surface streamer's speed and excitation dynamics. In terms of streamer interactions with catalysts, representative dielectric and metallic catalysts are observed to behave differently. The unprecedented understanding and control over streamer dynamics and interactions in a patterned DBD design can be used to improve applications such as VOC removal from exhaust gas streams.