The DBD possesses essential advantages in surface processing and plasma chemistry. DBD is a
low-temperature discharge, usually working at atmospheric pressure. DBD plasma is typically obtained
between two parallel electrodes separated by a gap of some millimeters and excited by alternating current
(ac) voltage with frequency in the range of 1–20 kHz. The dielectric barrier can be made from
glass, quartz, ceramics, or polymer—materials of low dielectric loss and high breakdown strength [5].
As an example, steel tubes coated by an enamel layer can be effectively used in the DBD. The DBD
proceeds in most gases through a large number of separate current filaments referred to as microdischarges.
These microdischarges have complex dynamic structure and are formed by channel streamers
that repeatedly strike at the same place as the polarity of the applied voltage changes, thus appearing to
the eye as bright filaments. The extinction voltage of the microdischarges is not far below the voltage
of their ignition. Charge accumulation on the surface of the dielectric barrier reduces the electric field
at the location of a microdischarge, which results in current termination within tens of nanoseconds
after breakdown. The short duration of current in microdischarges leads to low heat dissipation, and the
DBD plasma remains strongly nonthermal.