A snapshot of electrified nanodroplets

Abstract

We investigate the size distribution of electrically charged nanodroplets. The droplets were generated using nano- and micro- scale silicon tips. A brief voltage pulse results in a "snapshot" of charged nanodroplets on a metal surface. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) of the snapshot revealed that certain droplet diameters are favored suggesting droplet fission due to Rayleigh instability at nanometer length scales. The most occurring droplet diameters are 85.9(4.1) nm and 167.1 nm (9.7 nm) and for nano- and micro- scale tips respectively indicating that the tip size determines deposition resolution.