ECLIPSE/Collaborative Research: Unravelling the Coupled Physics of Piezoelectric and Plasma Behavior in Piezoelectric Stimulated Plasma Sources

该奖项将使大气压等离子体在压电等离子体放电中的基础研究成为可能。常压非热等离子体具有高度反应性，可用于从水净化和清洁能源技术到灭菌的各种应用，但由于需要特殊的、昂贵的或笨重的电子设备和电路来运行，其应用有时会受到限制。压电材料利用机械运动产生等离子体形成压电受激等离子体源，可以缓解对高端电源的需求。压电受激等离子体源的主要特点是压电材料具有高电压增益和高介电常数，可以在压电表面直接形成等离子体。目前对压电材料与等离子体相互作用的认识非常有限，关于压电材料与等离子体过程动力学耦合的基本问题还没有得到解答。该研究项目将为等离子体科学的一个新领域提供理解，该领域可以转化为传感器、生物医学、化学、流体动力学和材料应用。因此，南卡罗来纳大学和圣母大学之间的这个合作项目是在等离子科学与工程领先创新生态系统（ECLIPSE）计划的支持下进行的。对压电受激等离子体源的基本理解将通过结合和内聚的建模和实验努力来推进。将开发一种新的多物理场建模框架，以实验为基准，以完全集成的方式解决固相压电材料和气相等离子体，这是目前不可用的。在基础水平上的理解将有助于推进对等离子体表面相互作用的理解，这对各种等离子体设备都是重要的。这一努力的结果预计将是预测建模和压电激发的非热等离子体放电知识的重大飞跃，通过重点虚拟研讨会向全球等离子体社区推广，基于youtube的压电直接等离子体放电短视频模块，以及学生交流和推广活动，以激励代表性不足的学生和公众对STEM的关注。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award will enable a foundational study of atmospheric pressure plasmas in piezoelectric plasma discharges. The application of atmospheric pressure non-thermal plasmas – which are highly reactive and can be used for applications ranging from water purification and clean energy technology to sterilization – can at times be limited by requiring exotic, expensive, or bulky electronics and circuits for their operation. Piezoelectric materials could relax the need for high-end power supplies by using mechanical motion to produce the plasma forming piezoelectric stimulated plasma sources. The key feature of a piezoelectric stimulated plasma source is that the piezoelectric material is capable of high voltage gain and possesses high dielectric permittivity, enabling direct formation of a plasma at the piezoelectric surface. Current understanding of the interaction between piezoelectric materials and plasmas is very limited and there are unanswered fundamental questions about the coupling between the dynamics of the solid phase piezoelectric and plasma processes. The research project will provide understanding of a new area of plasma science that can be translated to sensor, biomedical, chemical, fluid dynamics, and materials applications. As such, this collaborative project between the University of South Carolina and the University of Notre Dame is being supported under the ECosystem for Leading Innovation in Plasma Science and Engineering (ECLIPSE) program.Fundamental understanding of piezoelectric stimulated plasma sources will be advanced through combined and cohesive modeling and experimental efforts. A new multi-physics modeling framework, benchmarked against experiments, will be developed that resolves both the solid phase piezoelectric material and gas phase plasma in a fully integrated fashion that is currently not available. Understanding at a fundamental level will help advance the understanding of plasma-surface interactions that is important to a large variety of plasma devices. The outcomes of this effort are expected to be a major leap in predictive modeling and transformative knowledge on piezoelectric stimulated non-thermal plasma discharges, outreach to the global plasma community through focused virtual workshops, YouTube-based short video modules on piezoelectric direct plasma discharges, and student exchange and outreach activities to inspire under-represented students and the general public towards STEM.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.