Ionization Processes in a Negative Needle–Plane Electrode System: Injection Processes

A theory of injection processes in air and solutions of liquid dielectrics with an electron acceptor impurity is proposed, based on the concept of surface electrons, which are primary electrons trapped by electron acceptor molecules. The ionization mechanism is the same both in the dark region in air (the electron acceptors are oxygen molecules) and in solutions of liquid dielectrics with iodine, in which the current-voltage characteristic is due to the trapping of surface electrons by iodine molecules. Based on the theory of surface electrons, a theory of injection of negative ions from a cathode in an electronegative gas is constructed and compared with experiment.