Molecular dynamics simulation on electrohydrodynamic atomization: Stable dripping mode by pre-load voltage

Abstract

Abstract The electrohydrodynamic atomization (EHDA) process is a method of forming liquid droplets or jets in a solution under an electric field. Molecular dynamics simulations were used in this study to reveal the EHDA dripping mode at a microscopic level. In this study, we investigated whether a liquid contains ions under the influence of a 1 V·nm−1 electric field that affects the dipole direction of water molecules to explore the cause of the dripping mode. It was hypothesized that the presence of ions would disrupt the local electric field distribution, causing liquid rupture. Furthermore, we observed the jetting behavior under varying ion concentrations and identified jetting instability. To solve this problem, the pre-load voltage method was used to control the distribution of ions in the solution, thus effectively increasing the ion concentration at the nanotube opening. In this study, we also investigated the movement behavior of ions in solution under different pre-load voltages, leading to a stable dripping mode under different ion concentrations. This study offers microscale mechanism research perspectives for EHDA and can be used in future studies for parameter setting and optimization.