Division of Environmental Physics - User: igor
Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics, Comenius University Bratislava

Study of Plasma Induced Chemistry by DC Discharges Above Water Surface in CO2/N2/H2O Mixture

Janda M., Machala Z., Morvová M., Morva I.
Orig. Life Evol. Biosph., 38, 23-35 (2008)

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Abstract:

The chemistry induced by atmospheric pressure DC discharges above a water
surface in CO2/N2/H2O mixtures was investigated. The gaseous mixtures studied
represent a model prebiotic atmosphere of the Earth.

The most remarkable changes in the chemical composition of the treated gas
were the decomposition of CO2 and the production of CO. The concentration of CO
increased logarithmically with the increasing input energy density and an increasing
initial concentration of CO2 in the gas. The highest achieved concentration of CO
was 4.0 ± 0.6 vol.%.

The production of CO was crucial for the synthesis of organic species, since
reactions of CO with some reactive species generated in the plasma, e. g. H· or N·
radicals, were probably the starting point in this synthesis. The presence of organic
species (including the tentative identification of some amino acids) was demonstrated
by the analysis of solid and liquid samples by high-performance liquid chromatography,
infrared absorption spectroscopy and proton-transfer-reaction mass
spectrometry. Formation of organic species in a completely inorganic CO2/N2/H2O
atmosphere is a significant finding for the theory of the origins of life.

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