Heterogeneous recombination of oxygen atoms on an aluminum foil surface under low-temperature plasma conditions

Abstract

According to direct kinetic measurements under conditions of a positive column of a low-pressure glow discharge, the probabilities of recombination of oxygen atoms (γ) on an aluminum foil surface have been determined and the effective activation energies of the recombination process have been calculated. It has been found that the γ value depends on the gas pressure in the system at a discharge current above 30 mA. The fluxes of the main active components of oxygen plasma onto the plasma-bounding surface have been calculated. It has been shown that an increase in the heterogeneous recombination probability is attributed to an increase in the flux of metastable oxygen molecules О₂(b¹∑_g⁺ onto the surface.