Numerical investigation on electron effects in the mass transfer of the plasma species in aqueous solution

The objective of this work is to contribute an understanding of the effects of electrons in the plasmas on the mass transfer of plasma species in aqueous solution by means of the numerical simulation based on a one-dimensional diffusion-reaction model. The plasma species are divided into two groups, i.e. electrons and the other species, and the mass transfer in the three scenarios has been simulated, including the systematic calculations of the depth distributions of five major reactive species, OH, O3, HO2, and H2O2. In the three scenarios, the particles considered to enter into aqueous solution are all the plasma species (the scenario I, where the mass transfer of plasma species is a result due to the synergy of the electrons and the other plasma species), the other species (the scenario II), and only electrons in plasma species (the scenario III), respectively. The detailed analyses on the difference between the depth distributions of each reactive species in these three scenarios show the following conclusions. The electrons play an important role in the mass transfer of plasma species in aqueous solution and the synergy of the electrons and the other plasma species (the electron-species synergy) presents its different effects on the mass transfer. The vast majority of H2O2 are generated from a series of the electron-related reactions in aqueous solution, which is hardly affected by the electron-species synergy. Compared to the results when only the electrons enter into the liquid region, the electron-species synergy evidently weakens the generation of O3, and OH, but promotes to produce HO2.