Ever since I was a child, I’ve been driven by a “what if?” mentality, a desire to understand how things work and to explore how to push them beyond their intended use. My curiosity started early. At around three years old, I accidentally set off a small fire in my mother’s apartment by spraying perfume on a lamp. I remember being fascinated by the little “psssht” it made, a tiny spark that left a lasting impression on me.
This curiosity naturally led me to study engineering and to immerse myself in the phenomena of the world around us. During my studies, I was captivated by a striking idea: nitrogen and oxygen, the very gases all around us, could be combined directly, with nothing more than electricity and water, to produce nitric acid. There is something deeply elegant in taking the most basic elements of the air and turning them into a substance so fundamental to life, even capable of fueling rockets, through arcs of electricity that resemble miniature lightning.
I wasn’t interested in testing whether it was possible – researchers had already demonstrated that. What I wanted to know was whether I could do it myself. I started by designing and building two reactors. The first, which I nicknamed Pupuce 80W, was a 2×40W Atmospheric-Pressure Glow Discharge powered by a Flyback converter topology. For the second one (Feuerblitz 700W), I aimed to push more power through the system, so I built a Gliding Arc reactor powered by a Microwave Oven Transformer (MOT), capable of delivering up to 2 kW at peak. However, this setup could not be operated continuously for long periods because of a lack of cooling a system, which became an important limitation in my experiments.
Immersing myself in plasma chemistry and studying works like Fridman’s Plasma Chemistry, my curiosity evolved into a mission: designing a reactor capable of surpassing current research setups, including gliding arc reactors.
Today, our team builds on that foundation. Every experiment, insight, and tiny arc of plasma brings us closer to understanding how nitrogen oxide synthesis can become more efficient and innovative. This journey is fueled by curiosity, creativity, and the thrill of exploring the hidden potential in the world around us.
I share this story not to sell, but to connect with fellow researchers, enthusiasts, and anyone inspired by the frontier of plasma chemistry. My path is still unfolding, and every conversation brings new ideas, insights, and possibilities.