INCREASE OF ELECTROSPRAY THROUGHPUT USING MULTIPLEXED MICROFABRICATED SOURCES FOR THE SCALABLE GENERATION OF MONODISPERSE DROPLETS

摘要

A compact multiplexed system of electrospraying and a method of fabricating the multiplex system is provided in order to increase by orders of magnitude the liquid flow rate to be dispersed and of retaining the quasi-monodispersity of the generated droplets. The system can be microfabricated as an array of nozzles etched in silicon using a microfabrication technique selected from micro-electro mechanical fabrication techniques and/or micromolding techniques, with a density of 100-2000 sources/cm2. The successful performace of the multiplexed system is critically dependent on a careful selection of the electrode configuration, with entails an extractor electrode mounted at a distance from the nozzle array. The one or more extractor electrodes have the dual function of limiting electric field cross talk between neighboring sources and minimizing space charge feedback from the spray cloud. The system may be optimized to produce uniform droplets simultaneously from all paralleliyed electrosprays, each one operating as an isolated spray in the quasi-monodisperse cone-jet mode.