Application of DBD Plasma Atomizers for Heavy Metals Detection

This work is devoted to develop a fully integrated system for heavy metals determination in water samples based on micro fluidic plasma atomizers. Several configurations of dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) atomizer are designed, fabricated and tested toward this target. Finally, a combination of annular and rectangular DBD atomizers has been utilized to develop a scheme for heavy metals determination. The present work has combined both theoretical and experimental investigations to fulfill the requirements. Several mathematical studies are implemented to explore the optimal design parameters for best system performance. On the other hand, expanded experimental explorations are conducted to assess the proposed operational approaches. The results of copper quantification compared with the data from other technologies in the literature, showed a competitive detection limit obtained from applying the developed scheme, with an advantage of conducting simultaneous, fully automated, insitu, online- real time analysis as well as a possibility of connecting the proposed device to control loops.