Diagnosis of Bactericidal Components of Air-Plasma Jets by IR and UV Absorption Spectroscopy**

Abstract

The bactericidal components of air plasma jets generated by a direct-current glow discharge and a dielectric barrier discharge were studied using IR and UV absorption spectroscopy. The mole fractions of bactericidal components with an absorption spectrum band structure were determined by selecting a mole fraction value in the calculated spectrum that ensured correlation with the experimental spectrum. The spectra were calculated using the HITRAN spectral database and the Specair 3.0 program. The error in the mole fractions due to violation of the Bouguer–Lambert–Beer law when using absorption coefficients convoluted with the instrument function was determined. The mole fractions of bactericidal components with a continuous absorption spectrum were calculated using the Bouguer–Lambert–Beer law in a standard way. IR and UV absorption spectroscopy were shown to enable determination of the mole fractions for the full set of bactericidal components in air plasma jets of glow and barrier discharges.