Spontaneous electrical charging of droplets by conventional pipetting
Open Access
- 20 June 2013
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in Scientific Reports
- Vol. 3 (1), srep02037
- https://doi.org/10.1038/srep02037
Abstract
We report that a droplet dispensed from a micropipette almost always has a considerable electrical charge of a magnitude dependent on the constituents of the droplet, on atmospheric humidity and on the coating material of pipette tip. We show that this natural electrification of a droplet originates from the charge separation between a droplet and pipette tip surface by contact with water due to the ionization of surface chemical groups. Charge on a droplet can make it difficult to detach the droplet from the pipette tip, can decrease its surface tension, can affect the chemical characteristics of solutions due to interactions with charged molecules, and can influence the combination and localization of charged bio-molecules; in all cases, the charge may affect results of experiments in which any of these factors is important. Thus, these findings reveal experimental parameters that should be controlled in experiments that use micropipettes.Keywords
This publication has 29 references indexed in Scilit:
- Surface charge at Teflon/aqueous solution of potassium chloride interfacesColloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects, 2012
- Influences of electric field on living cells in a charged water-in-oil droplet under electrophoretic actuationBiomicrofluidics, 2011
- Electrophoresis of a Charged Droplet in a Dielectric Liquid for Droplet ActuationAnalytical Chemistry, 2011
- Pipette-friendly laminar flow patterning for cell-based assaysLab on a Chip, 2011
- Influence of Droplet Charge on the Chemical Stability of Citral in Oil-in-Water EmulsionsJournal of Food Science, 2010
- Interface Profiles near Three-Phase Contact Lines in Electric FieldsPhysical Review Letters, 2003
- Charge acquired by a spherical ball bouncing on an electrode: comparison between theory and experimentIEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation, 2002
- Droplet Evaporation and Discharge Dynamics in Electrospray IonizationThe Journal of Physical Chemistry A, 2002
- Static charge removal with IPA solutionIEEE Transactions on Semiconductor Manufacturing, 1994
- Wetting: statics and dynamicsReviews of Modern Physics, 1985