Plasma Chemistry Research Laboratory

Increasing environmental awareness has regulated in stringent regulations controlling VOC emission has motivated researchers to develop various kinds of strategies. Degradation of a mixture of volatile organic pollutants was taken in a parallel plate dielectric barrier discharge plasma reactor (DBD) using Non –thermal plasma technique and this technique has acquired enormous applications in the fields of environment purification. Plasma Chemistry Research laboratory in Ravenshaw started in 2011 funded by BRNS and subsequently by SERB with the aim of establishing a green chemistry laboratory for betterment of environment & health. Here AC, DC and pulsed DC power systems are designed and procured from indigenous firms for production of non-thermal plasma through DBD, glow discharge & Plasma torch in atmospheric and low-pressure condition mainly in two areas 1) Abatement of VOCs to harmless gases and plasma polymerization. 2) Surface modification of eco-friendly bio-composites for biomedical applications. We use helium, argon, oxygen and nitrogen of 99.999% purity as our carrier gases in the reactor for plasma production having parallel plate, coaxial reactors and plasma polymerization chamber to study non-catalytic and catalytic effect of cold atmospheric plasmas (CAP) with following instruments in our laboratory.

  1. OES: Optical Emission Spectroscopy has been used for detecting different kinds of excited species such as radicals, ions, cations etc. which are generated in the DBD reactor in plasma environment.
  2. Goniometer: used for measuring the surface contact angle and surface free energy of a polymer film or any other materials. This helps for knowing the hydrophilicity or hydrophobicity of the material.
  3. Plasma Torch: This is a device for generating a directed flow of non-thermal plasma. This can be directly used to any liquid or solid surface.
  4. DBD reactor: Dielectric barrier Discharge (DBD) reactor has numerous applications. In DBD, the average temperature of high energy electrons is very high but the actual gas temperature is close to the environment or room temperature. DBD reactor is used in normal atmospheric conditions of temperature and pressure. It is very easy to handle since no sparking or lightening occurs during experiment. As it is used in atmospheric condition so oxygen plasma cannot be used. 
  5. Glow discharge Reactor: This reactor is majorly used for surface modification of polymer films or composites. Here the plasma is generated in inert atmosphere. So here we can generate every type of plasma like Ar, He, O2, N2, NH3 etc. And the modification is only on the surface of the polymer, it does not have any effect to the bulk properties.
  6. Plasma Polymerizations Chamber: This instrument is also used for surface modification. Here a polymerization chamber is present where we take any monomer and this monomer should be coated in the sample in presence of plasma atmosphere.

DBD Plasmas

Plasmas experiment

Surface Treatement

Co-Axial DBD Reactor and AC Power Supply

Plasma polymerization chamber and it's power supply

Plasma touch and it's power supply and oscilloscope

Faculty Incharge:
Prof. Smruti Prava Das
Email: dassmrutiprava@yahoo.in
Phone: +91 8249080881