Ignacio G. Loscertales

Coaxial jets generated from electrified Taylor cones. Scaling laws

Abstract An experimental investigation on the electrified co-axial jets of two immiscible liquids issuing from a structured Taylor cone (Science 295 (5560) (2002) 1695) has been carried out. The structure of these almost conical electrified menisci consists of an outer meniscus surrounding an inner one. The liquid threads which issue from the vertex of each one of the menisci give rise to a two-concentric layered jet whose eventual breakup results in an aerosol of relatively monodisperse compound droplets with the outer liquid encapsulating the inner one. The effect of the flow rates of both liquids on the current transported by these coaxial jets and on the size of the compound droplets has been investigated. Several couples of liquids have been used to explore the influence on the spraying process of the properties of the liquids: i.e. the electrical conductivity K , dielectric constant β , interfacial tension of the liquid couple γ , viscosity μ , etc. We have found that the measurements of the current emitted through the coaxial jet when they are made dimensionless fit satisfactorily the current scaling law of regular electrosprays. Data of the mean diameter of the compound droplets have been obtained using a non-intrusive laser system. As expected the breakup process and therefore the droplet size are strongly dependent on the liquid viscosities and on the ratio of the liquid flow rates.

Whipping instability characterization of an electrified visco-capillary jet

The charged liquid micro-jet issued from a Taylor cone may develop a special type of non-axisymmetric instability, usually referred to in the literature as a whipping mode. This instability usually manifests itself as a series of fast and violent lashes of the charged jet, which makes its characterization in the laboratory difficult. Recently, we have found that this instability may also develop when the host medium surrounding the Taylor cone and the jet is a dielectric liquid instead of air. When the oscillations of the jet occur inside a dielectric liquid, their frequency and amplitude are much lower than those of the oscillations taking place in air. Taking advantage of this fact, we have performed a detailed experimental characterization of the whipping instability of a charged micro-jet within a dielectric liquid by recording the jet motion with a high-speed camera. Appropriate image processing yields the frequency and wavelength, among the other important characteristics, of the jet whipping as a function of the governing parameters of the experimental set-up (flow rate and applied electric field) and liquid properties. Alternatively, the results can be also written as a function of three dimensionless numbers: the capillary and electrical Bond numbers and the ratio between an electrical relaxation and residence time.

DRIFT DIFFERENTIAL MOBILITY ANALYZER

Abstract This work addresses the problem of narrowing the peak diffusive broadening observed in the response of differential mobility analyzers (DMA) when dealing with nanoparticles and ions. Instead of achieving this task by solely increasing the sheath gas flowrate through the instrument (i.e. increasing the Peclet number, Pe), as done in recent studies, we show that the broadening can be further reduced by establishing an axial electric field upon the classical transverse one. This still nonexisting instrument would be what we call a drift-DMA (DDMA). The asymptotic analysis ( Pe ⪢ 1) indicates that a well designed DDMA might triple the resolution of Rosells DMA (Rosell-Llompart et al., J. Aerosol Sci. 27, 695–719) when both instruments run at the same Pe, placing this hypothetic instrument in an excellent position to even compete with standard ion drift tubes. On the other hand, the DDMA would yield the same resolution of a Rosells DMA but running at a Reynolds number Re near one order of magnitude smaller, with the corresponding saving on pumping needs.

Fabrication of structured micro and nanofibers by coaxial electrospinning

Among the different ways of synthesizing fiber and tubular micro and nanostructures, some top-down methods resort to electro-hydrodynamic forces to smoothly stretch liquids interfaces down to such small size scales. The well-known electrospinning technique, commonly used to fabricate micro and nanofibers of a broad variety of materials, is now expanded to fabricate coaxial fibers upon the generation of electrified coaxial jets instead of single jets. We briefly report different types of micro and nano structures that may be fabricated with this new technique termed co-electrospinning.

Conical tips inside cone-jet electrosprays

In coaxial jet electrosprays inside liquid baths, a conductive liquid forms a cone-jet electrospray within a bath containing a dielectric liquid. An additional dielectric liquid is injected inside the Taylor cone, forming a liquid meniscus. The motion of the conductive liquid that flows toward the vertex cone deforms the inner dielectric meniscus until a liquid jet is issued from its tip. Both the conductive and inner dielectric liquid jets flow coaxially and, further downstream, they will eventually be broken up by capillary instabilities. Coaxial jet electrosprays inside liquid baths is a useful technique to generate fine simple or double emulsions. However, in certain circumstances, we have observed that the dielectric menisci present extremely sharp tips that can be stabilized and made completely steady without mass emission. In this paper, we will first explore the parametrical range of liquid properties, mainly viscosities and surface tensions, under which these sharp tips take place. In addition, a...

Coaxial Electrospinning for Nanostructured Advanced Materials

Electro-hydro-dynamic (EHD) compound jets, with diameters in the micro and nanometric size range, from conical menisci of two co-flowing liquids, is a consolidated platform for the production of nanofibers with inner structure, in a process so-called coaxial electrospinning or co-electrospinning. In contrast to other multi-step template based procedures, the EHD methodology is much more simple and general since, firstly, a solid template is needless and, secondly, the process is seldom affected by the chemistry of the liquids. This gentle process allows selecting the liquid precursors depending on the application sought for the nanofibers. Here, we review different products obtained by this EHD technique: (1) solid and hollow carbon nanofibers from different precursors (polyacrylonitrile, polyvinylpyrrolidone and lignin), (2) nanofibers of biocompatible polymers encapsulating liquids in the form of beads, (3) spinning nanofibers of alginate and (4) in-fiber encapsulation of active microgels.