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

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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.