Point-plane geometry, corona discharge

Figure 4. Most studied electrode geometry in liquid corona discharge reactors (A) point-to-plane and (B) plate-to-plane.

Many efforts have been made to explore the efficiency of corona emitters. For example, it has been shown that a triangle-shaped point-to-plane geometry electrostatic dc corona device is more efficient than a point-to-plane dc corona device with a rectangular cross section [18]. A semi-empirical mathematical model was used to describe the electrical characteristics and to refine estimates on the optimum shape of the device [18]. Experiments have also shown that a greater voltage was required to generate corona discharges when the anode radius was increased [19]. 

Furthermore, when cylindrical hollow electrodes generate corona discharge, the temperature of the electrodes has been shown to increase [20]. In the present study, the point-to-plane geometry was chosen with the aqueous surface acting as the (grounded) plane. The pointed electrode was solid, not hollow, and composed of stainless steel. 

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