Dynamic regimes of electrified liquid filaments

Significance A viscous liquid filament subjected to an axial electric field exhibits different behaviors including jetting, coiling, and whipping, which result from the delicate interplay of viscous, electrostatic, and surface tension stresses. Control over these dynamic behaviors of electrified liquid filaments is crucial for applications such as the fabrication of nanosized architectures and analytical instrumentation. However, due to the narrow window of system parameters, the three dynamic regimes are never reported in a single system, which has prevented the investigation of transitions among these regimes. Using a low-interfacial-tension liquid−liquid system, we systematically characterize the transitions among all three dynamic regimes and elucidate underlying mechanisms, thus providing an important missing piece of the puzzle to the physics of electrified liquid filaments.