Low-Temperature Plasma Generation, Surface Treatment, and Catalytic Synthesis
This community investigates the physics and chemistry of plasmas generated at atmospheric pressure and room temperature, focusing on their use for modifying material surfaces, processing food, and driving chemical reactions for fuel production.
The work centers on dielectric barrier discharges, plasma jets, and inductively coupled systems using argon, helium, and nitrogen. Recurring applications include plasma-activated water, surface etching for semiconductor fabrication, and the modification of polymers and proteins. A significant strand of research applies these non-thermal techniques to food safety, antimicrobial treatment, and the synthesis of ammonia and hydrogen. The community also examines the fundamental discharge characteristics, electron kinetics, and optical emission spectroscopy of these gas-phase systems.
The largest share of the community's output is found in argon research, accounting for 13.6% of all argon studies, and 10,406 papers here. Xenon research also holds a significant share at 9.3%, while helium contributes 7.5% of its respective element research.
The community comprises 67,990 papers, with the highest publication volume in Plasma Sources Science and Technology, Journal of Applied Physics, and Plasma Chemistry and Plasma Processing.
Recent work continues to focus on non-thermal technologies for food fermentation and safety, plasma-activated water for inhibiting biofilm formation, and the fabrication of high-aspect-ratio silicon structures using inductively coupled reactive ion etching.