Multiple chemical warfare agent simulant decontamination by self-driven microplasma

Low-temperature plasma is a green and high-efficiency technology for chemical warfare agent (CWA) decontamination. However, traditional plasma devices suffer from the problems of high-power composition and large power-supply size, which limit their practical applications. In this paper, a self-driven microplasma decontamination system, induced by a dielectric-dielectric rotary triboelectric nanogenerator (dd-rTENG), was innovatively proposed for the decontamination of CWA simulants. The microplasma was characterized via electrical measurements, optical emission spectra and ozone concentration detection. With an output voltage of −3460 V, the dd-rTENG can successfully excite microplasma in air. Reactive species, such as OH, O(1D), H_α and O₃ were detected. With input average power of 0.116 W, the decontamination rate of 2-chloroethyl ethyl sulfide reached 100% within 3 min of plasma treatment, while the decontamination rates of malathion and dimethyl methylphosphonate reached (65.92 ± 1.65)% and (60.88 ± 1.92)% after 7 min of plasma treatment, respectively. In addition, the decontamination rates gradually decreased with the increase in the simulant concentrations. Typical products were identified and analyzed. This study demonstrates the broad spectrum and feasibility of the dd-rTENG-microplasma for CWA elimination, which provides significant guidance for their practical applications in the future.