Plasma chemical and electrical modelling of a negative DC corona in pure oxygen

A complex plasma chemical and electrical model of a negative stationary wire-to-cylinder corona discharge in pure oxygen is presented. The corona discharge is assumed to have axial and azimuthal symmetry. The experimental current-voltage characteristic is required as input data, but there are no other adjustable or empirical parameters. The experimental validation of the results of the model comes from its prediction of the ozone concentration. The role played by different reactions and species is analysed in detail using the results of the simulation. The effect of the gas temperature and of the decomposition of ozone at the electrodes is also investigated. The agreement between the model and the experiments is excellent when the effect of ozone decomposition at the electrodes is taken into account.