Negative Droplets from Positive Electrospray
Joshua T. MazeChemistry Department, Indiana University, 800 East Kirkwood Avenue, Bloomington, Indiana 47405Thaddeus C. JonesChemistry Department, Indiana University, 800 East Kirkwood Avenue, Bloomington, Indiana 47405Martin F. JarroldChemistry Department, Indiana University, 800 East Kirkwood Avenue, Bloomington, Indiana 47405
2006en
ABI
Abstract
Image charge detection has been used to measure the charge and velocity of individual electrosprayed water droplets. With a positive bias on the electrospray needle the majority of the droplets are, as expected, positively charged. However, a small fraction, surprisingly, carry a negative charge. Plausible explanations for the presence of the negatively charged droplets are discussed. In particular, we consider the possibility of the negatively charged droplets resulting from a bipolar fission process where the incorporation of a small negatively charged droplet between two larger positively charged progeny lowers the energy barrier for symmetric fission.
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Cited by 20 references