Rotating Gliding Arc Assisted Water Splitting in Atmospheric Nitrogen



Zhang, Hao, Zhu, Fengsen, Li, Xiaodong, Cen, Kefa, Du, Changming and Tu, Xin ORCID: 0000-0002-6376-0897
(2016) Rotating Gliding Arc Assisted Water Splitting in Atmospheric Nitrogen. PLASMA CHEMISTRY AND PLASMA PROCESSING, 36 (3). pp. 813-834. ISSN 0272-4324, 1572-8986

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Abstract

In this study, hydrogen production from water splitting in N<inf>2</inf> using an atmospheric pressure rotating gliding arc plasma was investigated. The effect of input H<inf>2</inf>O concentration and total flow rate on the performance of the plasma water splitting process (e.g., H<inf>2</inf> and O<inf>2</inf> yield, H<inf>2</inf> production rate, and energy yield of H<inf>2</inf>) was investigated. N<inf>2</inf> showed a pronouncedly facilitating effect on the H<inf>2</inf>O splitting and H<inf>2</inf> production process due to the reactions of the excited N<inf>2</inf> species [e.g., electronically excited metastable N<inf>2</inf>(A)] with the H<inf>2</inf>O molecules. The maximum H<inf>2</inf> production rate reached up to 41.3 μmols<sup>−1</sup>, which is much higher than that of other typical non-thermal plasmas (e.g., ~0.2 μmols<sup>−1</sup> for a dielectric barrier discharge). Optical emission diagnostics has shown that in addition to the NO, N<inf>2</inf>, and N<inf>2</inf> <sup>+</sup> that were observed in the pure N<inf>2</inf> spectra, strong OH and NH emission lines also appeared in the H<inf>2</inf>O/N<inf>2</inf> spectra. OH radical is considered as a key intermediate species that could contribute to the formation of H<inf>2</inf>, O<inf>2</inf>, and H<inf>2</inf>O<inf>2</inf>. The increase of the H<inf>2</inf>O concentration could lead to a continuous enhancement of the OH intensity. The rotational temperature of N<inf>2</inf> <sup>+</sup> dropped drastically from 2875 ± 125 to 1725 ± 25 K with the addition of 1 % (mol/mol) H<inf>2</inf>O into the N<inf>2</inf> plasma.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Rotating gliding arc, Water splitting, Hydrogen production, Optical emission spectroscopy (OES), Reaction mechanisms
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 14 Jun 2016 13:49
Last Modified: 09 Jun 2025 14:41
DOI: 10.1007/s11090-016-9700-y
Related Websites:
URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3001662