In order to study the characteristics of radio frequency dielectric barrier discharge (RF-DBD) using argon doped with nitrogen at atmospheric pressure, electrical and optical diagnoses of the discharge with different nitrogen ratios from 1% to 100% were carried out, and the self-organizing form of the filamentous plasma was studied through a transparent water electrode. At the same time, an ICCD camera was used to study the spatiotemporal evolution filamentous discharge during one cycle. Different from discharge using pure argon, using argon doped with nitrogen made the discharge change from glow discharge to filamentous discharge when the voltage increased to a certain value, and a higher nitrogen ratio made the filaments thicker and more sparsely arranged. Under different input power and nitrogen content conditions, several forms of glow discharge, hexagonal/irregularly arranged filamentous discharge and local filamentous discharge were obtained, all of which have potential applications to reduce the high cost of using inert gases.
Keywords: atmospheric pressure; dielectric barrier discharge; radio frequency.