Investigations on charging estimation of water droplet on composite insulating surface in an electric field

This paper deals with experimental and analytical investigations of the electric charge of water droplets deposited on hydrophobic insulating (silicon rubber) surface under non-uniform DC high voltage electric field. Accordingly, the effects of electrodes geometry, droplets size and water droplet conductivity are analyzed. Basically, a water droplet was kept stationary on the insulating surface and numerical integration of the current is used to estimate the electric charge on the droplet. The results show that the charge accumulated on the droplet is dependent on multiple factors such as the ionic mobility in the solution, the droplet size and the electrode geometry. It also showed that the charging properties for the insulating surface are also important as the hydrophobic properties