Streamer discharges in liquids and their applications

Industrial applications using pulsed power technologies have been developed in many fields. One of them is the treatment of exhaust gas by using uniformly produced streamer discharges. Streamer discharges in liquid also generate extremely high electric fields at the tip of streamers, as well as high energy electrons, ozone, other chemically active species, ultraviolet rays and shock waves. All of these may be utilized to sterilize microorganisms and to decompose molecules and materials. Large-volume streamer discharges in water have been produced in order to realize industrial applications. A wire to plane electrode configuration has been used. The discharge in water shows similar optical radiation to that in an atmospheric gas as provided by evidence from still photographs. The influence of polarity, conductivity, electrode geometry and hydrostatic pressure on the streamers in liquid, the mechanism of streamer discharges and possible industrial applications of streamers in liquids, are discussed in the present work.