Characteristics of deformation and electrical charging of large water drops immersed in an insulating liquid on the electrode surface

Electrical manipulation of charged droplet has attracted much attention owing to its potential applications in various industrial and laboratorial units. In this paper, deformation and electrical charging of large conductive water drops on the electrode surface studied experimentally. Moreover, the quality of drop motion and deformation near the electrode surface discussed in details by performing a precise image processing of the experimental photos. Based on the experimentally extracted drop shapes, the distribution of the electrical charge on the drop surface obtained numerically. The results revealed some important effects of the drop deformation on the amount of the acquired charge on the drop surface, which could be helpful to step forward in design of the electrically driven droplet-based systems.

Graphical abstractIn this article, the deformation and electrical charging of large water drop in an insulating liquid where the drop considerably deforms over the electrode are discussed in details.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload high-quality image (66 K)Download as PowerPoint slideResearch highlights► Deformations of large and water drops are different during the electrical charging. ► Gravity considerably affects the drop behavior over the electrode. ► Drops leave the electrode with a higher velocity as well as the acceleration. ► Surface charge quantity reaches the maximum value on top of the drop.