Plasma processing has been widely applied for surface modification of materials. Reactive species of ions, electrons, high-energy neutrals and radicals are generated in a plasma, diffuse through a boundary gas layer between the plasma and a material surface, and subsequently react with the surface. Due to the short lifetimes of these reactive species, only a small amount of them can reach the surface, limiting efficient, high speed treatment. Since ultrasonic waves can efficiently reduce the thickness of the boundary gas layer, surface modification effect can be enhanced by ultrasonic irradiation onto the surfaces during plasma treatment.

Our preliminary experiments show that oxidation of polymeric surfaces can be enhanced by simultaneous irradiation of high energy ultrasonic waves during dielectric barrier discharge treatment at atmospheric pressure. We also found that gas phase reactions in an atmospheric pressure plasma can be enhanced by the ultrasonic irradiation.

The project is the collaboration with FORCE Technology.

Sponsored by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation through the National Danish Proof of Concept funding Scheme (grant No. 07-017766)