Triboplasma Assisted Chemical Conversion in Granular Systems: A Semi-Analytic Model: Article No. 085210

Hariswaran Sitaraman, Sankaran Sundaresan

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

We present a semi-analytic model for a novel plasma-assisted chemical conversion pathway using triboplasmas generated in granular flows. Triboelectric charge relaxation is a well known phenomena where the potential generated from contact charging of particles exceeds the breakdown voltage of the background gas. In this work, we extend the triboelectric charge relaxation theory to include non equilibrium plasma energy and particle balance equations to predict the formation of dissociated and excited species that act as precursors to chemical conversion, for example in plasma-assisted ammonia synthesis. Our example case study with nitrogen background gas and teflon/aluminum tribomaterial system yielded high excited nitrogen species densities per collision that are comparable to current plasma-assisted conversion pathways. We also present a regime diagram for various gases where Paschen breakdown parameters are used to determine whether triboplasmas can be formed for a given effective work-function difference between two materials. Our sensitivity studies indicate particle velocity, particle radius, solids fraction and space charge effects play a critical role in overall plasma densities and excited species production.
Original languageAmerican English
Number of pages17
JournalJournal of Physics D: Applied Physics
Volume58
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - 2025

NREL Publication Number

  • NREL/JA-2C00-91507

Keywords

  • ammonia synthesis
  • charge relaxation
  • granular flows
  • microplasmas
  • plasma-assisted conversion
  • triboplasma

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