Abstract
Abstract: Numerous applications have required the study of CO 2 plasmas since the 1960s, from CO 2 lasers to spacecraft heat shields. However, in recent years, intense research activities on the subject have restarted because of environmental problems associated with CO 2 emissions. The present review provides a synthesis of the current state of knowledge on the physical chemistry of cold CO 2 plasmas. In particular, the different modeling approaches implemented to address specific aspects of CO 2 plasmas are presented. Throughout the paper, the importance of conducting joint experimental, theoretical and modeling studies to elucidate the complex couplings at play in CO 2 plasmas is emphasized. Therefore, the experimental data that are likely to bring relevant constraints to the different modeling approaches are first reviewed. Second, the calculation of some key elementary processes obtained with semi-empirical, classical and quantum methods is presented. In order to describe the electron kinetics, the latest coherent sets of cross section satisfying the constraints of “electron swarm” analyses are introduced, and the need for self-consistent calculations for determining accurate electron energy distribution function (EEDF) is evidenced. The main findings of the latest zero-dimensional (0D) global models about the complex chemistry of CO 2 and its dissociation products in different plasma discharges are then given, and full state-to-state (STS) models of only the vibrational-dissociation kinetics developed for studies of spacecraft shields are described. Finally, two important points for all applications using CO 2 containing plasma are discussed: the role of surfaces in contact with the plasma, and the need for 2D/3D models to capture the main features of complex reactor geometries including effects induced by fluid dynamics on the plasma properties. In addition to bringing together the latest advances in the description of CO 2 non-equilibrium plasmas, the results presented here also highlight the fundamental data that are still missing and the possible routes that still need to be investigated.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 237 |
| Number of pages | 55 |
| Journal | European Physical Journal D |
| Volume | 75 |
| Issue number | 9 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Sept 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The work of Kustova is supported by the Russian Science Foundation, project 19-11-00041. The work of Guerra, Bogaerts, Engeln and Guaitella has received funding from the European Union?s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 813393, Guerra and Silva were partially funded by the Portuguese FCT - Funda??o para a Ci?ncia e a Tecnologia, under projects UIDB/50010/2020 and UIDP/50010/2020. Lombardi thanks the University of Perugia for financial support through the AMIS project (?Dipartimenti di Eccellenza-2018-2022?) and acknowledge the Dipartimento di Chimica, Biologia e Biotecnologie for funding under the ?Fondo Ricerca di Base 2019? program and the OU Supercomputing Center for Education & Research (OSCER) at the University of Oklahoma (OU) for the allocated computing time and the Italian Space Agency (ASI) Life in Space project (ASI N. 2019-3-U.0). The authors Pietanza, Capitelli and Colonna want to thank A. Laricchiuta for useful discussions on electron impact cross sections.