Recently, the bactericidal and fungicidal effects of plasma-activated water (PAW) have been confirmed for its application in agriculture. Although the PAW application is beneficial in plant growth, no information is available about processes induced by PAW in soil. This paper gives the first experimental results about PAW’s influence on selected physical and physical–chemical properties of soil. PAW was prepared using the dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) operating in the multistreamer mode at a frequency of 11 kHz. The total energy consumption was 60 J/ml. The obtained results show minimal changes in the natural water evaporation from the soil exposed to PAW, slower tap water absorption if a higher amount of PAW (16 doses per 10 ml to 90 g of the soil) is applied, as well as water retention in the soil of over 30%. The soil pH remains in the neutral range of values even at the highest applied PAW amount of 1.7 weight of soil, which represents the best conditions with respect to the plant growth. Thus, we can conclude that the PAW application, even at high amounts, has no negative influence on the physical and physical–chemical properties of soil and it can be safely applied in sustainable, environmentally friendly agriculture.

A recently presented novel plasma source generating discharge in liquids based on the pin-hole discharge configuration is characterized in detail. The system is supplied by DC non-pulsing high voltage of both polarities in NaCl water solutions at a conductivity range of 100–15 000 μ S/cm. The discharge itself shows self-pulsing operation. The discharge ignition is observed in micro bubbles by transient discharge followed by a glow discharge in positive polarity at lower conductivities propagating inside the bubbles. At high conductivities, the glow regime is particularly replaced by a more energetic sequence of transient discharges followed by a shorter glow mode operation. The transient regime probability and its intensity are higher in the negative discharge polarity. The transient discharge produces acoustic waves and shock waves, which are observed at the moment of the bubble cavitation. The average gas temperature of 700–1500 K was calculated from the lowest OH (A-X) 0-0 band transitions. The average electron concentrations of 10 ²⁰ –10 ²³ m ⁻³ were calculated from H _α and H _β line profiles. Finally, the production of a chemically active species is determined by hydrogen peroxide energy yields related to the energy consumption of the whole interelectrode system. All these quantities are dependent on the solution conductivity, the discharge polarity, and the applied power.

The formation of vapour and initiation of electrical discharges in normal saline and other NaCl solutions has been observed and modelled. Millisecond pulses of −160 to −300 V were applied to a sharp tungsten carbide electrode immersed in the liquid. A fast framing camera was used to observe vapour layer growth around the electrode by shadowgraphy. Images were also taken without backlighting to observe emission accompanying breakdown. The conductivity of the vapour layer has been estimated by comparison of experimentally measured impedances with impedances calculated by finite element modelling of the liquid and vapour around the electrode observed by shadowgraphy. The conductivity of the vapour layer is estimated to vary between ∼1 and 10 ⁻³ S m ⁻¹ , which are orders of magnitude higher than expected for water vapour. The reason for the high conductivity is not clear, but may be due to injection of charge carriers into the vapour by corona discharge at the sharp tip and/or the presence of cluster ions in the vapour. Alternatively, the vapour layer may be a foam mixture of high conductivity liquid and low conductivity vapour bubbles. Discharge formation does not occur primarily at the sharp tip of the electrode, but rather at the side. Finite element models of the vapour layer show that the highest electric fields are found close to the sharp tip of the electrode but that the field strength drops rapidly moving away from the tip. By contrast slightly lower, but consistently high, electric fields are often observed between the side of the electrode and the liquid vapour boundary where plasma emission is mostly observed due to the shape of the vapour liquid boundary. The electron number density in the discharge is estimated to be ∼10 ²¹ m ⁻³ . There is evidence from the shadowgraphy for different boiling mechanisms; nucleate boiling at lower voltages and film boiling at higher voltages. A rule of thumb based on a simplistic model is suggested to predict the time to discharge based on electrode area, initial current, and electrolyte temperature, density, conductivity and heat capacity.

Argon plasma torch sustained by 2.45 GHz electromagnetic wave can be in contact with water surface or penetrate inside the water depending on the wave power. The propagation of the electromagnetic wave sustaining the discharge in water is problematic: the water dielectric permittivity strongly depends on the wave frequency and the temperature and varies between 6 and 86. At wave frequency of 2.45 GHz and room temperature (20 ?C) its value is 80 which leads to very fast decay of the electromagnetic wave. We have studied both theoretically and experimentally the plasma properties and the electrodynamics of the wave propagation when the gas discharge is in contact with water. Depending on the wave power and the gas flow it is possible to produce plasma with low (room) temperature. The plasma is non-equilibrium one with electron temperature much higher than the gas/liquid temperature. Because of this many radicals and chemically active particles can be produced even at low temperature. Depending on the regime of operation this kind of discharges can find various applications for surface treatment, sterilization, surface energy change and others, including temperature sensitive materials and liquids treatment.