Growth of nanoparticles in dynamic plasma.

Coagulation growth kinetics of nanoparticles in plasma is affected by interparticle electrostatic forces due to the charging phenomenon. In stationary plasmas, unipolar charging of particles results in retardation of particle growth and may result in a limitation on particle size. We demonstrate the opposite effect of enhanced particle growth in atmospheric pressure nonstationary arc discharge. Modeling of the nanoparticle growth kinetics reveals the formation of a bipolar charge distribution. As a result, reversed (attractive) Coulomb forces promote the formation of micrometer-size particles in a millisecond timescale as observed in experiment.