Deposition of Controllable Nanoparticles by Hybrid Aerodynamic and Electrostatic Spray

Abstract

Generating uniform and size controllable nanoparticles are important for various analytical and industrial applications. Here, we propose the hybrid aerodynamic and electrostatic spray system with a large amount of size-controlled nanoparticles. The aerodynamic force easily produces a large amount of sprayed droplets and the electric field assists in secondary breakup of sprayed droplets. The charge of droplets was evaluated to understand the mechanism of controllable particle size because the size and uniformity of particles are determined by the distributions of droplets after evaporation. The distributions of particles are evaluated with a scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS) technique and a field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) images. The size and aggregation of the particles are reduced and controlled by electric field strengths.