DOI: 10.1063/1.868037. Charge and fission of droplets in electrostatic sprays

Charge and fission of droplets in electrostatic sprays

10.1063/1.868037

Crossref journal-article

AIP Publishing

Physics of Fluids (317)

Abstract

Measurements of the charge and size of heptane droplets generated by electrostatic sprays showed that the droplet charge-to-volume ratio is a monotonically decreasing function of size. In the useful range of electrospray operation, characterized by droplets smaller than the size of the orifice from which the liquid is issued, it was found that the larger were the droplets the closer they were to the Rayleigh limit. In particular, when droplets had charging levels between 70% and 80% of such limit, they were observed to rupture because the repulsive force due to surface charge evidently overcame surface tension. The rupture phenomenon, here termed Coulomb fission, was also captured in microphotographs that typically showed a droplet with one or two, diametrically opposed, conical protrusions terminating in a fine jet ejecting a stream of much smaller, apparently equisized offsprings. The process appeared swift and, yet, well ordered, quite different from the common view of a violent, convulsive explosion. Corroborating evidence on the disruption pattern was also gathered by quantitative measurements of the evolution of the droplet size distribution in evaporating sprays using phase Doppler anemometry (PDA). Implications of these findings are finally discussed in the context of a particular application of electrostatic sprays, electrospray ionization, a technique that is revolutionizing the mass-spectrometric analysis of large biomolecules.

Bibliography

Gomez, A., & Tang, K. (1994). Charge and fission of droplets in electrostatic sprays. Physics of Fluids, 6(1), 404â414.

Authors 2

Alessandro Gomez (first)
Keqi Tang (additional)

References 43 Referenced 533

10.1080/14786448208628425 / Philos. Mag. / On the equilibrium of liquid conducting masses charged with electricity (1882)
10.1029/JC075i003p00701 / J. Geophys. Res. / The Rayleigh instability of water drops in the presence of external electric fields (1970)
10.1029/JC078i027p06364 / J. Geophys. Res. / Charge loss mechanism of highly charged water droplets in the atmosphere (1973)
10.1098/rspa.1971.0135 / Proc. R. Soc. London Ser. A / Electrical control of the combustion of solid and liquid particulate suspensions (1971)
{'key': '2024021013280572400_r5'}
{'key': '2024021013280572400_r6'}
10.1126/science.2675315 / Science / Electrospray ionization for mass spectrometry of large biomolecules (1989)
{'key': '2024021013280572400_r8'}
{'key': '2024021013280572400_r9'}
{'key': '2024021013280572400_r10'}
{'key': '2024021013280572400_r11'}
{'key': '2024021013280572400_r12'}
10.1098/rspa.1964.0151 / Proc. R. Soc. London Ser. A / Disintegration of water drops in an electric field (1964)
10.1017/S0022112092002829 / J. Fluid Mech. / The effect of charge emission from electrified liquid cones (1992)
10.1063/1.326352 / J. Appl. Phys. / Convergence and disintegration of liquid jets induced by an electrostatic field (1979)
{'key': '2024021013280572400_r16'}
10.1016/0304-3886(89)90081-8 / J. Electr. / Electrostatic spraying of liquids in cone-jet mode (1989)
{'key': '2024021013280572400_r18'}
10.1088/0022-3727/4/8/316 / J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. / The production of charged monodisperse fuel droplets by electrical dispersion (1971)
10.1016/0095-8522(52)90043-3 / J. Colloid Sci. / Production of monodisperse liquid particles by electrical atomization (1952)
10.1139/p64-202 / Can. J. Phys. / Asymmetry in the electrostatic dispersion of liquids (1964)
10.1063/1.1762011 / Phys. Fluids / Charge-to-mass relationships for electrohydrodynamically sprayed liquid droplets (1967)
10.1063/1.1654865 / Appl. Phys. Lett. / Evidence that the minimum-energy state is not accessible to a system of droplets produced by electrohydrodynamic spraying (1973)
{'key': '2024021013280572400_r24'}
10.1016/0095-8522(64)90024-8 / J. Colloid. Sci. / Behavior of evaporating electrically charged droplets (1964)
10.1017/S0022112067001685 / J. Fluid Mech. / The instability of evaporating charged drops (1967)
10.1016/0021-9797(71)90141-X / J. Colloid. Interface Sci. / Stability limit of charged drops (1971)
10.1021/la00086a016 / Langmuir / Electrified droplet fission and the Rayleigh limit (1989)
10.1103/PhysRev.10.1 / Phys. Rev. / Instability of electrified liquid surfaces (1917)
10.1017/S0022112062000580 / J. Fluid Mech. / Note on the break-up of a charged liquid jet (1962)
{'key': '2024021013280572400_r31', 'first-page': '795', 'article-title': 'Axisymmetric shapes and stability of isolated charged drops', 'volume': '5', 'year': '1989', 'journal-title': 'Phys. Fluids A'} / Phys. Fluids A / Axisymmetric shapes and stability of isolated charged drops (1989)
10.1109/TIA.1983.4504287 / IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl. / Analysis of the disruption of evaporating charged droplets (1983)
{'key': '2024021013280572400_r33'}
10.1029/JZ072i012p03007 / J. Geophys. Res. / Mass loss and distortion of freely falling water drops in an electric field (1967)
{'key': '2024021013280572400_r35', 'first-page': '945', 'article-title': 'Breakup of large water droplets by electric fields', 'volume': 'IA-25', 'year': '1989', 'journal-title': 'IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl.'} / IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl. / Breakup of large water droplets by electric fields (1989)
10.1098/rspa.1931.0168 / Proc. R. Soc. London Ser. A / Some investigations on the deformation and breakup of water drops in strong electric fields (1931)
{'key': '2024021013280572400_r37'}
10.1063/1.432536 / J. Chem. Phys. / On the evaporation of small ions from charged droplets (1976)
10.1063/1.1670391 / J. Chem. Phys. / Molecular beams of macroions (1968)
{'key': '2024021013280572400_r40'}
{'key': '2024021013280572400_r41'}
{'key': '2024021013280572400_r42'}
{'key': '2024021013280572400_r43'}

Dates

Type	When
Created	23 years, 1 month ago (July 26, 2002, 8:09 a.m.)
Deposited	1 year, 6 months ago (Feb. 10, 2024, 10:02 a.m.)
Indexed	6 days, 4 hours ago (Aug. 26, 2025, 2:54 a.m.)
Issued	31 years, 8 months ago (Jan. 1, 1994)
Published	31 years, 8 months ago (Jan. 1, 1994)
Published Print	31 years, 8 months ago (Jan. 1, 1994)

Funders 0

None

BibTeX

@article{Gomez_1994, title={Charge and fission of droplets in electrostatic sprays}, volume={6}, ISSN={1089-7666}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.868037}, DOI={10.1063/1.868037}, number={1}, journal={Physics of Fluids}, publisher={AIP Publishing}, author={Gomez, Alessandro and Tang, Keqi}, year={1994}, month=jan, pages={404–414} }

JSON

{
  "indexed": {
    "date-parts": [
      [
        2025,
        8,
        26
      ]
    ],
    "date-time": "2025-08-26T06:54:28Z",
    "timestamp": 1756191268453
  },
  "reference-count": 43,
  "publisher": "AIP Publishing",
  "issue": "1",
  "content-domain": {
    "domain": [
      "pubs.aip.org"
    ],
    "crossmark-restriction": true
  },
  "published-print": {
    "date-parts": [
      [
        1994,
        1,
        1
      ]
    ]
  },
  "abstract": "<jats:p>Measurements of the charge and size of heptane droplets generated by electrostatic sprays showed that the droplet charge-to-volume ratio is a monotonically decreasing function of size. In the useful range of electrospray operation, characterized by droplets smaller than the size of the orifice from which the liquid is issued, it was found that the larger were the droplets the closer they were to the Rayleigh limit. In particular, when droplets had charging levels between 70% and 80% of such limit, they were observed to rupture because the repulsive force due to surface charge evidently overcame surface tension. The rupture phenomenon, here termed Coulomb fission, was also captured in microphotographs that typically showed a droplet with one or two, diametrically opposed, conical protrusions terminating in a fine jet ejecting a stream of much smaller, apparently equisized offsprings. The process appeared swift and, yet, well ordered, quite different from the common view of a violent, convulsive explosion. Corroborating evidence on the disruption pattern was also gathered by quantitative measurements of the evolution of the droplet size distribution in evaporating sprays using phase Doppler anemometry (PDA). Implications of these findings are finally discussed in the context of a particular application of electrostatic sprays, electrospray ionization, a technique that is revolutionizing the mass-spectrometric analysis of large biomolecules.</jats:p>",
  "DOI": "10.1063/1.868037",
  "type": "journal-article",
  "created": {
    "date-parts": [
      [
        2002,
        7,
        26
      ]
    ],
    "date-time": "2002-07-26T12:09:39Z",
    "timestamp": 1027685379000
  },
  "page": "404-414",
  "update-policy": "http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/aip-crossmark-policy-page",
  "source": "Crossref",
  "is-referenced-by-count": 533,
  "title": "Charge and fission of droplets in electrostatic sprays",
  "prefix": "10.1063",
  "volume": "6",
  "author": [
    {
      "given": "Alessandro",
      "family": "Gomez",
      "sequence": "first",
      "affiliation": [
        {
          "name": "Department of Mechanical Engineering, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "given": "Keqi",
      "family": "Tang",
      "sequence": "additional",
      "affiliation": [
        {
          "name": "Department of Mechanical Engineering, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "member": "317",
  "reference": [
    {
      "key": "2024021013280572400_r1",
      "doi-asserted-by": "crossref",
      "first-page": "184",
      "DOI": "10.1080/14786448208628425",
      "article-title": "On the equilibrium of liquid conducting masses charged with electricity",
      "volume": "14",
      "year": "1882",
      "journal-title": "Philos. Mag."
    },
    {
      "key": "2024021013280572400_r2",
      "doi-asserted-by": "crossref",
      "first-page": "701",
      "DOI": "10.1029/JC075i003p00701",
      "article-title": "The Rayleigh instability of water drops in the presence of external electric fields",
      "volume": "75",
      "year": "1970",
      "journal-title": "J. Geophys. Res."
    },
    {
      "key": "2024021013280572400_r3",
      "doi-asserted-by": "crossref",
      "first-page": "6364",
      "DOI": "10.1029/JC078i027p06364",
      "article-title": "Charge loss mechanism of highly charged water droplets in the atmosphere",
      "volume": "78",
      "year": "1973",
      "journal-title": "J. Geophys. Res."
    },
    {
      "key": "2024021013280572400_r4",
      "doi-asserted-by": "crossref",
      "first-page": "201",
      "DOI": "10.1098/rspa.1971.0135",
      "article-title": "Electrical control of the combustion of solid and liquid particulate suspensions",
      "volume": "324",
      "year": "1971",
      "journal-title": "Proc. R. Soc. London Ser. A"
    },
    {
      "key": "2024021013280572400_r5"
    },
    {
      "key": "2024021013280572400_r6"
    },
    {
      "key": "2024021013280572400_r7",
      "doi-asserted-by": "crossref",
      "first-page": "64",
      "DOI": "10.1126/science.2675315",
      "article-title": "Electrospray ionization for mass spectrometry of large biomolecules",
      "volume": "246",
      "year": "1989",
      "journal-title": "Science"
    },
    {
      "key": "2024021013280572400_r8"
    },
    {
      "key": "2024021013280572400_r9"
    },
    {
      "key": "2024021013280572400_r10"
    },
    {
      "key": "2024021013280572400_r11"
    },
    {
      "key": "2024021013280572400_r12"
    },
    {
      "key": "2024021013280572400_r13",
      "doi-asserted-by": "crossref",
      "first-page": "383",
      "DOI": "10.1098/rspa.1964.0151",
      "article-title": "Disintegration of water drops in an electric field",
      "volume": "280",
      "year": "1964",
      "journal-title": "Proc. R. Soc. London Ser. A"
    },
    {
      "key": "2024021013280572400_r14",
      "doi-asserted-by": "crossref",
      "first-page": "561",
      "DOI": "10.1017/S0022112092002829",
      "article-title": "The effect of charge emission from electrified liquid cones",
      "volume": "243",
      "year": "1992",
      "journal-title": "J. Fluid Mech."
    },
    {
      "key": "2024021013280572400_r15",
      "doi-asserted-by": "crossref",
      "first-page": "3174",
      "DOI": "10.1063/1.326352",
      "article-title": "Convergence and disintegration of liquid jets induced by an electrostatic field",
      "volume": "50",
      "year": "1979",
      "journal-title": "J. Appl. Phys."
    },
    {
      "key": "2024021013280572400_r16"
    },
    {
      "key": "2024021013280572400_r17",
      "doi-asserted-by": "crossref",
      "first-page": "135",
      "DOI": "10.1016/0304-3886(89)90081-8",
      "article-title": "Electrostatic spraying of liquids in cone-jet mode",
      "volume": "22",
      "year": "1989",
      "journal-title": "J. Electr."
    },
    {
      "key": "2024021013280572400_r18"
    },
    {
      "key": "2024021013280572400_r19",
      "doi-asserted-by": "crossref",
      "first-page": "1159",
      "DOI": "10.1088/0022-3727/4/8/316",
      "article-title": "The production of charged monodisperse fuel droplets by electrical dispersion",
      "volume": "4",
      "year": "1971",
      "journal-title": "J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys."
    },
    {
      "key": "2024021013280572400_r20",
      "doi-asserted-by": "crossref",
      "first-page": "616",
      "DOI": "10.1016/0095-8522(52)90043-3",
      "article-title": "Production of monodisperse liquid particles by electrical atomization",
      "volume": "7",
      "year": "1952",
      "journal-title": "J. Colloid Sci."
    },
    {
      "key": "2024021013280572400_r21",
      "doi-asserted-by": "crossref",
      "first-page": "2185",
      "DOI": "10.1139/p64-202",
      "article-title": "Asymmetry in the electrostatic dispersion of liquids",
      "volume": "42",
      "year": "1964",
      "journal-title": "Can. J. Phys."
    },
    {
      "key": "2024021013280572400_r22",
      "doi-asserted-by": "crossref",
      "first-page": "2149",
      "DOI": "10.1063/1.1762011",
      "article-title": "Charge-to-mass relationships for electrohydrodynamically sprayed liquid droplets",
      "volume": "10",
      "year": "1967",
      "journal-title": "Phys. Fluids"
    },
    {
      "key": "2024021013280572400_r23",
      "doi-asserted-by": "crossref",
      "first-page": "220",
      "DOI": "10.1063/1.1654865",
      "article-title": "Evidence that the minimum-energy state is not accessible to a system of droplets produced by electrohydrodynamic spraying",
      "volume": "23",
      "year": "1973",
      "journal-title": "Appl. Phys. Lett."
    },
    {
      "key": "2024021013280572400_r24"
    },
    {
      "key": "2024021013280572400_r25",
      "doi-asserted-by": "crossref",
      "first-page": "136",
      "DOI": "10.1016/0095-8522(64)90024-8",
      "article-title": "Behavior of evaporating electrically charged droplets",
      "volume": "19",
      "year": "1964",
      "journal-title": "J. Colloid. Sci."
    },
    {
      "key": "2024021013280572400_r26",
      "doi-asserted-by": "crossref",
      "first-page": "663",
      "DOI": "10.1017/S0022112067001685",
      "article-title": "The instability of evaporating charged drops",
      "volume": "30",
      "year": "1967",
      "journal-title": "J. Fluid Mech."
    },
    {
      "key": "2024021013280572400_r27",
      "doi-asserted-by": "crossref",
      "first-page": "417",
      "DOI": "10.1016/0021-9797(71)90141-X",
      "article-title": "Stability limit of charged drops",
      "volume": "35",
      "year": "1971",
      "journal-title": "J. Colloid. Interface Sci."
    },
    {
      "key": "2024021013280572400_r28",
      "doi-asserted-by": "crossref",
      "first-page": "376",
      "DOI": "10.1021/la00086a016",
      "article-title": "Electrified droplet fission and the Rayleigh limit",
      "volume": "5",
      "year": "1989",
      "journal-title": "Langmuir"
    },
    {
      "key": "2024021013280572400_r29",
      "doi-asserted-by": "crossref",
      "first-page": "1",
      "DOI": "10.1103/PhysRev.10.1",
      "article-title": "Instability of electrified liquid surfaces",
      "volume": "10",
      "year": "1917",
      "journal-title": "Phys. Rev."
    },
    {
      "key": "2024021013280572400_r30",
      "doi-asserted-by": "crossref",
      "first-page": "151",
      "DOI": "10.1017/S0022112062000580",
      "article-title": "Note on the break-up of a charged liquid jet",
      "volume": "13",
      "year": "1962",
      "journal-title": "J. Fluid Mech."
    },
    {
      "key": "2024021013280572400_r31",
      "first-page": "795",
      "article-title": "Axisymmetric shapes and stability of isolated charged drops",
      "volume": "5",
      "year": "1989",
      "journal-title": "Phys. Fluids A"
    },
    {
      "key": "2024021013280572400_r32",
      "doi-asserted-by": "crossref",
      "first-page": "771",
      "DOI": "10.1109/TIA.1983.4504287",
      "article-title": "Analysis of the disruption of evaporating charged droplets",
      "volume": "IA-19",
      "year": "1983",
      "journal-title": "IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl."
    },
    {
      "key": "2024021013280572400_r33"
    },
    {
      "key": "2024021013280572400_r34",
      "doi-asserted-by": "crossref",
      "first-page": "3007",
      "DOI": "10.1029/JZ072i012p03007",
      "article-title": "Mass loss and distortion of freely falling water drops in an electric field",
      "volume": "72",
      "year": "1967",
      "journal-title": "J. Geophys. Res."
    },
    {
      "key": "2024021013280572400_r35",
      "first-page": "945",
      "article-title": "Breakup of large water droplets by electric fields",
      "volume": "IA-25",
      "year": "1989",
      "journal-title": "IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl."
    },
    {
      "key": "2024021013280572400_r36",
      "doi-asserted-by": "crossref",
      "first-page": "565",
      "DOI": "10.1098/rspa.1931.0168",
      "article-title": "Some investigations on the deformation and breakup of water drops in strong electric fields",
      "volume": "133",
      "year": "1931",
      "journal-title": "Proc. R. Soc. London Ser. A"
    },
    {
      "key": "2024021013280572400_r37"
    },
    {
      "key": "2024021013280572400_r38",
      "doi-asserted-by": "crossref",
      "first-page": "2287",
      "DOI": "10.1063/1.432536",
      "article-title": "On the evaporation of small ions from charged droplets",
      "volume": "64",
      "year": "1976",
      "journal-title": "J. Chem. Phys."
    },
    {
      "key": "2024021013280572400_r39",
      "doi-asserted-by": "crossref",
      "first-page": "2240",
      "DOI": "10.1063/1.1670391",
      "article-title": "Molecular beams of macroions",
      "volume": "49",
      "year": "1968",
      "journal-title": "J. Chem. Phys."
    },
    {
      "key": "2024021013280572400_r40"
    },
    {
      "key": "2024021013280572400_r41"
    },
    {
      "key": "2024021013280572400_r42"
    },
    {
      "key": "2024021013280572400_r43"
    }
  ],
  "container-title": "Physics of Fluids",
  "original-title": [],
  "language": "en",
  "link": [
    {
      "URL": "https://pubs.aip.org/aip/pof/article-pdf/6/1/404/19002636/404_1_online.pdf",
      "content-type": "application/pdf",
      "content-version": "vor",
      "intended-application": "syndication"
    },
    {
      "URL": "https://pubs.aip.org/aip/pof/article-pdf/6/1/404/19002636/404_1_online.pdf",
      "content-type": "unspecified",
      "content-version": "vor",
      "intended-application": "similarity-checking"
    }
  ],
  "deposited": {
    "date-parts": [
      [
        2024,
        2,
        10
      ]
    ],
    "date-time": "2024-02-10T15:02:31Z",
    "timestamp": 1707577351000
  },
  "score": 1,
  "resource": {
    "primary": {
      "URL": "https://pubs.aip.org/pof/article/6/1/404/259417/Charge-and-fission-of-droplets-in-electrostatic"
    }
  },
  "subtitle": [],
  "short-title": [],
  "issued": {
    "date-parts": [
      [
        1994,
        1,
        1
      ]
    ]
  },
  "references-count": 43,
  "journal-issue": {
    "issue": "1",
    "published-print": {
      "date-parts": [
        [
          1994,
          1,
          1
        ]
      ]
    }
  },
  "URL": "http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.868037",
  "relation": {},
  "ISSN": [
    "1070-6631",
    "1089-7666"
  ],
  "subject": [],
  "published-other": {
    "date-parts": [
      [
        1994,
        1
      ]
    ]
  },
  "published": {
    "date-parts": [
      [
        1994,
        1,
        1
      ]
    ]
  }
}