Plasma, the “fourth state of matter,” is an ionized gas comprising electrons, ions, radicals, excited atoms, and molecules. Plasma presents a highly reactive environment, thus lending itself to different applications.
In the context of CO2 conversion too, there is increasing interest in plasma technology because it can operate at mild conditions such as low temperatures.
Plasma has some advantages: (i) plasma is generated by electricity and can simply be switched on/off, allowing storage of fluctuating energy; (ii) the reaction occurs virtually in the entire volume of the reactor (although mainly confined at the discharges), as in thermal catalysis, while for electro- and photo-catalytic processes the reaction is on the surface of the electrode (thus, to simplify, a 3D vs. 2D approach); (iii) it is a relatively low cost technology in comparison with photo- and electro-catalytic routes requiring more sophisticated and costly devices and materials.
On the other hand, as will be clarified later, the complexity of the phenomena in plasma chemistry and physics, and even more when coupled with a solid catalyst, require further progress in understanding to achieve high productivity, energy efficiency, and energy selectivity. Scalability of the technology is another challenge in exploiting the potential of plasma technology for industrial applications.
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fenrg.2020.00111/full
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