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ICOPS conference in Seattle
The 49th International Conference on Plasma Science (ICOPS) was held in Seattle from May 22 through May 26. It was one of the first conferences since the beginning of the COVID pandemic situation that was organized as a hybrid conference and partly held on site. It was nice to be back at a live conference getting in touch face to face with other researchers. More than 350 on site attendees visited the conference and more than 150 researchers joined the conference virtually. The conference venue was the Sheraton Grand Seattle located in Seattle Downtown. The scientific program reached out to wide varieties in the field of plasma physics covering topics such as basic phenomena in high temperature fusion plasmas or low temperature plasma jets up to the applications of different sources as for example in medicine, agriculture or for environmental purposes.
Beside the scientific program there were lots of things to discover around the area such as strolling at the famous Pike Place Market or going up the Space Needle to get a great view over the city and the 4392m high volcano Mount Rainier, if it does not hide itself in dense clouds. During the conference a spontaneous group event took place, exploring the night life of Seattle together with around 30 other researchers and the conference was eventually closed with a nice banquet.
Patrick Preissing, project B2
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Visit of CRC 1316 students at Avantes
The participants of the lecture "Plasma Diagnostics" from this and previous semesters visited the company Avantes in Apeldoorn, NL on 3.6.22. The Dutch company is specialized in so called hand-held or USB spectrometers and related accessories. These spectrometers are popular for species identification but also for monitoring plasmas.
During the from the Faculty of Physics and Astronomy supported excursion, insights into the production and new developments were given in addition to further application possibilities. In two small workshops, current plasma-relevant diagnostics could be used live, namely Raman spectroscopy and laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIPS), which directly closed the circle to the lecture.
Students from the Faculty of Physics and Astronomy who are writing their theses as part of CRC 1316 participated in the trip.
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French guests at PIP laboratory
Within the frame of the PROCOPE project, Claire Douat and Eloise Mestre from GREMI in Orléans, France, visited the Bochum lab of Jun.-Prof. Judith Golda. The research stay took place between May 8 and May 22, 2022, to study CO production in a kHz jet source using mass spectrometry.
PROCOPE is a DAAD funded project to enhance the cooperation between RUB and GREMI.
JEloise Mestre, Judith Golda, Daniel Henze, Laura Chauvet, and Claire Douat in the mass spec laboratory
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Approval for DAAD PROCOPE project
In collaboration with Dr. Claire Douat from the institute GREMI in Orléans, France, a joint DAAD project on the diagnostics and application of plasma radiation as a CO source for sterilization in wound healing was submitted this year. This has now been approved by the DAAD for 1.1.2022.
The aim of the project is to investigate the production pathways and the role of the CO molecule in the plasma treatment of biological material. To study CO generation in CAPs, two well-characterized plasma sources will be used that have complementary operating principles: A radial kHz-dielectric barrier discharge with direct contact of the plasma including ions, electrons, and strong electric fields with the treated substrate; and a coplanar RF discharge where only the field-free plasma effluent containing reactive species and plasma-generated photons reaches the substrate. This project will explore possible synergistic effects between CO and plasma-generated species such as electric fields, ions and electrons, photons, and other neutral radicals. The two complementary plasma sources will be used to distinguish the effects of indirect and direct plasma treatment on the impact of plasma-produced CO on bacteria. The plasma sources used here will be characterized with CO2 admixture to ensure that the amount of CO produced is below the toxicity limit. Parameter variations will be used to determine the optimal CO production conditions.
The project includes travel expenses to address the planned research questions.
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DFG approves second funding period of the CRC 1316
Plasmas for the Systems for material conversion are an important component in the utilization and storage of decentrally generated renewable energies. The Collaborative Research Center 1316 (CRC 1316) "Transient Atmospheric Pressure Plasmas - from Plasma to Liquids to Solids" is dedicated to combining atmospheric pressure plasmas with catalysis to develop the most flexible solutions possible for this material conversion. "They should be scalable, controllable and robust against external influences, such as impurities in the starting materials," explains Prof. Dr. Achim von Keudell, spokesman of the CRC.
The first funding period of the CRC 1316 was dedicated to the elucidation of transient phenomena in atmospheric pressure plasmas as well as interfacial processes at the surface of catalysts. Here, the focus was on three systems: the plasma-catalytic conversion of gases, the combination of plasmas with electrolysis at the interface between liquid and solid, and plasma-assisted biocatalysis, in which enzymes very selectively produce new molecules. The researchers were able to make great progress in these areas: For example, they achieved precise control of the formation of reactive particles in these plasmas. They were also able to gain a deeper understanding of the atomic and molecular surface processes in these systems.
In the second funding period, these findings will be brought together to make the best possible use of the interplay between a plasma with its reactive particles and a catalytically active surface. There are many further questions in this regard, since in traditional catalysis, for example, stable molecules are essentially reaction partners, whereas in plasma catalysis, reactive particles or highly excited species can accelerate or suppress a specific reaction path. On this basis, the first prototype plants for plasma catalysis, plasma electrolysis and plasma biocatalysis are to be developed.
In addition to the RUB as the host university, researchers from the University of Ulm, the Jülich Research Center and the Fritz Haber Institute in Berlin are involved in the CRC.
The research group "Plasma Interface Physics" will be involved in the three projects A6, B2 and B11.
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Company outing Chair and working group
Today we went into the mine together with the Chair of Experimental Physics II: We visited the Nachtigall colliery in Hattingen on a company outing. After a hike through the Muttental valley with a geocache search, we stopped off at the Bethaus for a delicious lentil soup.
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Presentation of working groups for final theses
Today, on February 22, 2021, the Plasma Interface Physics working group introduced itself to physics students at RUB during an information event. Possible topics for theses were explained.
If you are interested in a thesis in the working group, have any questions or would like advice, please do not hesitate to contact us.