Surface treatment of granular materials by dielectric barrier discharge in view of triboelectric charging improvement

Dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) is a promising technology for surface modification of materials. In recent investigations; researchers have found that DBD plasma exposure changes the triboelectric properties of insulating materials. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the effect of three major operating parameters of the DBD reactor on the triboelectric charging of plasma-exposed granular materials. The factors considered in this study were: the distance between the two electrodes of the plasma reactor, the thickness of the dielectric and its position. The plasma treated Polyethylene (PE) particles were then tribocharged in a vibrating device; the acquired charge was measured using a Faraday pail connected to an electrometer. Results show that both the distance between the electrodes and the thickness of the dielectric barrier have a considerable effect on the tribocharge acquired after DBD treatment. Conversely, for fixed gap spacing, the dielectric barrier configuration does not have a significant effect on charge enhancement.