| This dissertation first examines electrical discharges used to study wastewater samples for contaminant detection and abatement. Two different water samples contaminated with differing concentrations of either methanol (MeOH) or methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) were used to follow breakdown mechanisms. Emission from CO* was used to monitor the contaminant and for molecular breakdown confirmation through actinometric OES as it can only arise from the carbon-based contaminant in either system. Detection was achieved at concentrations as low as 0.01 ppm, and molecular decomposition was seen at a variety of plasma parameters.;This dissertation also explores the vibrational (&thetas;V), rotational (&thetas;R) and translational (&thetas;T) temperatures for a range of diatomic species in different plasma systems. For the majority of the plasma species studied, &thetas;V are much higher than &thetas;R and &thetas;T. This suggests that more energy is partitioned into the vibrational degrees of freedom in our plasmas. The &thetas;R reported are significantly lower in all the plasma systems studied and this is a result of radical equilibration to the plasma gas temperature. &thetas;T values show two characteristics; (1) they are less than the &thetas;V and higher than the &thetas; R and (2) show varying trends with plasma parameters. Radical energetics were examined through comparison of &thetas;R, &thetas;T, and &thetas;V, yielding significant insight on the partitioning of internal and kinetic energies in plasmas. Correlations between energy partitioning results and corresponding radical surface scattering coefficients obtained using our imaging of radicals interacting with surfaces (IRIS) technique are also presented.;Another aspect of plasma process chemistry, namely surface modification via plasma treatment, was investigated through characterization of metal oxides (SiOxNy, nat-SiO2, and dep-SiO2) following their exposure to a range of plasma discharges. Here, emphasis was placed on the surface wettability, surface charge, and isoelectric point (IEP). The results demonstrate that 100% Ar, H2O, and NH3 plasma treatments cause changes in surface charge, wettability, and IEP values for all treated surfaces. Observed variations in these values depend primarily on the specific mechanism for surface functionalization with each plasma treatment. These results highlight the utility of IEP measurements for characterizing plasma treated surfaces and suggest the possibility that plasmas may provide a valuable means of controlling surface charge and wettability of metal oxides.;The incorporation of functional groups on the surface of Zeolite X was also examined as an additional form of plasma surface modification. The intention of these studies was to (1) alter the surface functionality by simple plasmas treatments, as characterized by XPS data; (2) change the hydrophilic nature of the zeolite to be more hydrophobic with fluorocarbon plasmas; (3) gain total surface area functionality with our new rotating drum reactor; and (4) ensure that damage was not occurring to the zeolite structure, as evidenced by SEM images. Results showed the incorporation of different surface functionality was accomplished with all plasma systems studied (CF4, C2 F6, C3F8), the zeolite structure was not damaged by the plasma, and the potential for altering the entire surface area of these porous materials exists.;The final portion of this dissertation addresses aspects of work designed to understand the adhesion behavior of amorphous carbon nitride (a-CN x) films deposited from a CH3CN and BrCN plasmas. In particular, films obtained from CH3CH plasmas stayed intact whereas BrCN plasmas produced films that delaminated upon their exposure to atmosphere. These results have been attributed to humidity, film stress, hydrocarbon species, and the Br content in the film. The major contributions to this work made here center on the chemical composition and binding environments of the deposited films as measured by XPS, which are shown to be critical in understanding the mechanical properties of a-CNx films. (Abstract shortened by UMI.). |
