Dielectric barrier discharge plasma is one of the most popular methods to generate nanthermal plasma, which is made up of a host of high-energy electrons, free radicals, chemically active ions and excited species, so it has the property of being prone to chemical reactions. Due to these unique advantages, the plasma technology has been widely used in the catalytic fields. Compared with the conventional method, the heterogeneous catalyst prepared by plasma technology has good dispersion and smaller particle size, and its catalytic activity, selectivity and stability are significantly improved. In addition, the interaction between plasma and catalyst can achieve synergistic effects, so the catalytic effect is further improved. The review mainly introduces the characteristics of dielectric barrier discharge plasma, development trend and its recent advances in catalysis; then, we sum up the advantages of using plasma technology to prepare catalysts. At the same time, the synergistic effect of plasma technology combined with catalyst on methanation, CH₄ reforming, NO_x decomposition, H₂O₂ synthesis, Fischer–Tropsch synthesis, volatile organic compounds removal, catalytic sterilization, wastewater treatment and degradation of pesticide residues are discussed. Finally, the properties of plasma in catalytic reaction are summarized, and the application prospect of plasma in the future catalytic field is prospected.

In the last few years, due to the large amount of greenhouse gas emissions causing environmental issue like global warming, methods for the full consumption and utilization of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO₂) have attracted great attention. In this study, a packed-bed dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) coaxial reactor has been developed and applied to split CO₂ into industrial fuel carbon monoxide (CO). Different packing materials (foam Fe, Al, and Ti) were placed into the discharge gap of the DBD reactor, and then CO₂ conversion was investigated. The effects of power, flow velocity, and other discharge characteristics of CO₂ conversion were studied to understand the influence of the filling catalysts on CO₂ splitting. Experimental results showed that the filling of foam metals in the reactor caused changes in discharge characteristics and discharge patterns, from the original filamentary discharge to the current filamentary discharge as well as surface discharge. Compared with the maximum CO₂ conversion of 21.15% and energy efficiency of 3.92% in the reaction tube without the foam metal materials, a maximum CO₂ decomposition rate of 44.84%, 44.02%, and 46.61% and energy efficiency of 6.86%, 6.19%, and 8.85% were obtained in the reaction tubes packed with foam Fe, Al, and Ti, respectively. The CO₂ conversion rate for reaction tubes filled with the foam metal materials was clearly enhanced compared to the non-packed tubes. It could be seen that the foam Ti had the best CO₂ decomposition rate among the three foam metals. Furthermore, we used density functional theory to further verify the experimental results. The results indicated that CO₂ adsorption had a lower activation energy barrier on the foam Ti surface. The theoretical calculation was consistent with the experimental results, which better explain the mechanism of CO₂ decomposition.