The Influence of Space Charge on the Transport of Charged Particles Generated during Electrospray in Crossed Gasdynamic and Electric Fields

Abstract

The transport of charged particles generated during electrospray in a longitudinal gasdynamic field has been studied in a model system comprising two coaxial electrodes and a collector grid. The process has been numerically simulated with omission of the role of a space charge. A comparison of the results shows that the space charge is a key factor determining the transport of charged particles: the model transport efficiency in the absence of space charge reaches 80–100%. In experiment, the efficiency strongly depends on the space charge and amounts to 70–80% for its minimum values, while decreasing to 20–30% with increasing electrospray current.