The paper highlights applications of some atmospheric pressure plasmas (dc-corona, streamer and spark and ac-Dielectric Barrier Discharges) to aerosol processes for Materials and Environment (filtration, diagnostics). The production of vapor i.e. condensable gaseous species, leads to nano-sized particles by physical and chemical routes of nucleation in these AP plasmas: (i) when dc streamer and spark filamentary discharges as well as ac filamentary dielectric barrier discharges interact with metal or dielectric surfaces, and (ii) when discharges induce reactions with gaseous precursors in volume. It is shown how composition, size and structure of primary nano-particles are related to plasma parameters (energy, number per unit surface and time and thermal gradients). Then the growth by coagulation controls the final size of agglomerates versus plasma parameters and transit time in and after the plasma. Charging and electro-thermal collection are depicted to account for the related potential applications of controlled kinematics of charged aerosol.

Ions densities and mobilities in post-dielectric barrier discharge (post-DBD) are presented here. To extract ions from DBD and perform post-discharge measurements the best functioning conditions are low overpressure, high frequency (>= 25 kHz, to avoid electrocollection) and low flow rate (1 lpm, to reduce dilution). Besides, ions densities in post-discharge increase with electrode temperature and, at low flow rates, with the number of discharge filaments by time and surface unit (controlled by voltage at fixed frequency). In both cases, the reinforcement of dielectric material surface polarization reduces the local electrocollection of ions inside DBD or increases the production of ions by subcritical avalanches outside filaments. Concerning mobility measurements, it is shown that for low saturation, vapours emitted from post-DBD polymer tubes only affect positive ions mobility due to selective ion-induced nucleation on positive ions. When metal post-DBD tubes are used, positive ions keep the same range of electric mobility at any temperature while there is a drop in negative ions mobility around 100 degrees C, probably related to a chemical transition between O-3 and NOx.