Negative charge acquisition by isolated single microdroplets from plasma exposure at atmospheric pressure

Nourhan E Hendawy; Harold N McQuaid; Somhairle Mag Uidhir; David Rutherford; Declan Diver; Davide Mariotti; Paul Maguire

doi:10.1088/1361-6463/ae3326

Negative charge acquisition by isolated single microdroplets from plasma exposure at atmospheric pressure

Nourhan E Hendawy
, Harold N McQuaid
, Somhairle Mag Uidhir
, David Rutherford
, Declan Diver
, Davide Mariotti
, Paul Maguire

University of Glasgow

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

6 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Charged liquid microdroplets have generated significant interest recently due to the observation of chemical reaction rate enhancement by orders of magnitude. Droplet charging by plasma irradiation has been observed along with significantly enhanced reaction rates in liquid. In this paper, we measure the charge on fixed size (47 μm) individual droplets, exposed for approximately 4 ms to a low temperature RF-driven plasma operated at atmospheric pressure. The measured charge values ranged from 2.5 to 3.5 × 106 electrons, depending on the droplet trajectory. Results were compared with finite element simulations of plasma charging, which provided estimates of surface electric fields and charge fluxes at the droplet surface and helped advance the development of a theoretical framework for plasma-charged microreactors.

Original language	English
Article number	035203
Pages (from-to)	1-13
Number of pages	13
Journal	Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics
Volume	59
Issue number	3
Early online date	20 Jan 2026
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6463/ae3326
Publication status	Published (in print/issue) - 23 Jan 2026

Bibliographical note

This work was supported by Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (Project Nos. EP/K006088/1, EP/K006142/1, EP/K022237/1, EP/R008841/1, EP/T016000/1) and EU COST Actions PlAgri (CA19110) and PlasTHER (CA20114).

Data Availability Statement

The data cannot be made publicly available upon publication because the cost of preparing, depositing and hosting the data would be prohibitive within the terms of this research project. The data that support the findings of this study are available upon reasonable reques

Keywords

microdroplet charging
plasma–liquid interaction
atmospheric pressure plasma
finite element simulations
charged droplets
charge measurement

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10.1088/1361-6463/ae3326

pdf.pdfFinal published version, 1.79 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "Negative charge acquisition by isolated single microdroplets from plasma exposure at atmospheric pressure",

abstract = "Charged liquid microdroplets have generated significant interest recently due to the observation of chemical reaction rate enhancement by orders of magnitude. Droplet charging by plasma irradiation has been observed along with significantly enhanced reaction rates in liquid. In this paper, we measure the charge on fixed size (47 μm) individual droplets, exposed for approximately 4 ms to a low temperature RF-driven plasma operated at atmospheric pressure. The measured charge values ranged from 2.5 to 3.5 × 106 electrons, depending on the droplet trajectory. Results were compared with finite element simulations of plasma charging, which provided estimates of surface electric fields and charge fluxes at the droplet surface and helped advance the development of a theoretical framework for plasma-charged microreactors.",

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note = "This work was supported by Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (Project Nos. EP/K006088/1, EP/K006142/1, EP/K022237/1, EP/R008841/1, EP/T016000/1) and EU COST Actions PlAgri (CA19110) and PlasTHER (CA20114). ",

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AU - Hendawy, Nourhan E

AU - McQuaid, Harold N

AU - Uidhir, Somhairle Mag

AU - Rutherford, David

AU - Diver, Declan

AU - Mariotti, Davide

AU - Maguire, Paul

N1 - This work was supported by Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (Project Nos. EP/K006088/1, EP/K006142/1, EP/K022237/1, EP/R008841/1, EP/T016000/1) and EU COST Actions PlAgri (CA19110) and PlasTHER (CA20114).

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Y1 - 2026/1/23

N2 - Charged liquid microdroplets have generated significant interest recently due to the observation of chemical reaction rate enhancement by orders of magnitude. Droplet charging by plasma irradiation has been observed along with significantly enhanced reaction rates in liquid. In this paper, we measure the charge on fixed size (47 μm) individual droplets, exposed for approximately 4 ms to a low temperature RF-driven plasma operated at atmospheric pressure. The measured charge values ranged from 2.5 to 3.5 × 106 electrons, depending on the droplet trajectory. Results were compared with finite element simulations of plasma charging, which provided estimates of surface electric fields and charge fluxes at the droplet surface and helped advance the development of a theoretical framework for plasma-charged microreactors.

AB - Charged liquid microdroplets have generated significant interest recently due to the observation of chemical reaction rate enhancement by orders of magnitude. Droplet charging by plasma irradiation has been observed along with significantly enhanced reaction rates in liquid. In this paper, we measure the charge on fixed size (47 μm) individual droplets, exposed for approximately 4 ms to a low temperature RF-driven plasma operated at atmospheric pressure. The measured charge values ranged from 2.5 to 3.5 × 106 electrons, depending on the droplet trajectory. Results were compared with finite element simulations of plasma charging, which provided estimates of surface electric fields and charge fluxes at the droplet surface and helped advance the development of a theoretical framework for plasma-charged microreactors.

KW - microdroplet charging

KW - plasma–liquid interaction

KW - atmospheric pressure plasma

KW - finite element simulations

KW - charged droplets

KW - charge measurement

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DO - 10.1088/1361-6463/ae3326

M3 - Article

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JO - Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics

JF - Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics

IS - 3

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ER -

Negative charge acquisition by isolated single microdroplets from plasma exposure at atmospheric pressure

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Data Availability Statement

Keywords

Access to Document

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