The electrostatic precipitator is widely used in many industries, such as power plants, waste incineration and glass production. The optimization of electrode and collecting plate is important for higher efficiency in electrostatic precipitator. In this work, the simulation results of electrical characteristics, particle charge, migration velocity and collection efficiency in four electrode configurations and two shaped collecting plates are presented. The results show that the distributions of the electric field and current density are different in each electrode and plate configuration. Sharpness of the discharge needle wire (NW) can simply lead to the high peak value of the electric field strength near the electrode wire surface. The concave-convex structure of the collecting plate can easily generate high current density near a corner of the BE collecting plate. The particle migration velocity and relative collection efficiency are calculated within eight different electrode-plate combinations. The BE collecting plate and needle wire electrode (BENW) configuration has the highest collection efficiency. The implication of the results in practice is discussed on this basis. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.