The use of atmospheric-pressure nonequlibrium plasmas to replace low-pressure plasmas applied for surface treatments of polymer materials is a significant current trend in industrial plasma engineering. The crux is the availability of robust and cost-effective sources of atmospheric-pressure plasmas capable of meeting the basic on-line treatment requirements. Atmospheric-pressure glow discharges (APGDs) systems have been considered as the most promising solution. However, the discharge stabilityhas continued to be a vexing problem preventing APGDs from becoming commercial successes. The proposed project is aimed to study the physical mechanism and potential applications of the diffuse coplanar surface discharge (DCSD) and to develop new fabrication techniques for ceramics-coated DCSD electrodes with long operation lifetimes. DCSD is a newly invented plasma source capable of generating macroscopically uniform thin layers of diffuse plasmas in various reactive gases.

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