Abstract Dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) in air, which has been established for the production of large quantities of ozone, is more recently being applied to a wider range of aftertreatment processes for HAPs (hazardous air pollutants). Although DBD has high electron density and energy, its potential use as precharging nano and submicron sized particles, is not known. In this work, we measured V‐I (voltage‐current) characteristics of DBD and estimated the collection efficiency of particles with bimodal distribution by DBD type 2‐stage ESP (electrostatic precipitator). To examine the particle collection with various applied voltage waveforms of DBD, nano size particles of NaCl (20∼100 nm) and DOS (50∼800 nm) were generated by an electrical tube furnace and an atomizer, respectively. Particle collection efficiencies of all the cases increased with increase of DBD electric power that the results corresponded to product of V by I whose magnitudes were the largest in triangular voltage waveform.