High-Voltage Sources and Reactors for Nonthermal Plasma Applications: A Review of Designs, Fabrications, and Their Performances

Discharge plasma-based treatments for different applications, such as sterilization, surface decontamination, food processing, water, and air pollution control, have many advantages over conventional technologies. Nonthermal plasma (NTP) consists of energetic electrons, which in turn generates free radicals through interactions and triggers important chemical reactions. As a result, NTP is being preferred in a variety of domains but there are several technical challenges for its successful implementation. Researchers from different backgrounds: physics, chemistry, electrical, and chemical engineering, are working to understand various aspects of NTP treatments with different domain-specific objectives. It is required to form multidisciplinary research groups and study various procedures to increase the potency of these treatments. This article is intended to stand as a complete guide for budding researchers working on NTP applications, simultaneously attracting new researchers to this area, by providing total information regarding various high-voltage (HV) sources, discharge techniques, and reactor configurations available in the literature for different NTP treatments, along with their details: designs, fabrications, and performances.