Full transient response of Taylor cones to a step change in electric field

We studied experimentally the complete transient response of Taylor cones subject to a step change in external electric field with the goal of finding optimal conditions to reduce the overall response time and achieve the highest possible switching bandwidth. The transient behavior of electrified menisci is of interest for many applications that would benefit from active control of on/off switching of the electrospray, such as femtoliter droplet-on-demand or novel fuel injectors in next generation internal combustion engines. We first investigated the transient behavior of ethanol, a typical solvent for droplet-on-demand. We then expanded the study to fuels such as JP-8 and E-30 biogas, a biofuel with 30% ethanol (vol.). The system response is a multi-stage process that can last from ~100?μs to ~100?ms. Potential bottleneck stages include liquid accumulation, meniscus oscillation, and cone relaxation, depending on the experimental conditions. A typical full response time is ~1?ms, and the shortest transient process observed is ~400?μs. For a given liquid, nozzle outer diameter (OD) and applied voltage are the two most important parameters to influence the full response time. Onset or near-onset voltage for the establishment of the cone jet often leads to a large number of oscillation cycles and should be avoided. Changes in conductivity and viscosity by less than a factor of 10 have negligible effects on the transient process. Using JP-8 or E-30 biogas, 90?μm OD nozzle with extractor, and flow rate of 0.4?mL/h, we can routinely achieve bandwidth of 1?kHz, corresponding to a full response time of 1?ms, after which quasi-monodispersed droplets of ~10?μm are generated. Adaptation of an inviscid model of a charged oscillating droplet to the oscillating meniscus satisfactorily explains several key phenomena observed in our experiments, such as the full response time and the overshoot of the meniscus height.