Nonlinear electrohydrodynamics of a surfactant-laden leaky dielectric drop

TL;DR

This paper develops a nonlinear three-dimensional theory for a surfactant-coated leaky dielectric drop in an electric field, capturing charge convection effects and the transition to Quincke rotation, with implications for critical field strength and hysteresis.

Contribution

It introduces a new 3D nonlinear model that includes charge convection and surfactant effects, advancing understanding of electrohydrodynamic instabilities in drops.

Findings

Surfactant presence lowers the critical electric field for Quincke rotation.

Surfactant diffusivity influences the critical field and hysteresis behavior.

The model predicts how surfactant properties affect drop dynamics under electric fields.

Abstract

A nonlinear three-dimensional small-deformation theory is presented for a leaky dielectric drop coated with a dilute monolayer of insoluble apolar surfactant and subjected to a uniform DC electric field. The theory is developed within the framework of the Taylor--Melcher leaky dielectric model, and builds on previous work by retaining surface charge convection in the charge conservation equation. Solving the problem in three dimensions and retaining charge convection allows us to capture the transition to Quincke rotation, a symmetry breaking instability wherein a drop begins rotating at a steady angular velocity when the applied electric field strength exceeds a critical value. We derive a system of coupled nonlinear ordinary differential equations for the drop shape, dipole moment, and surfactant distribution, which we solve numerically. We discuss the combined effects of charge convection and surfactant in the Taylor regime -- in which the field strength is too weak to induce Quincke rotation and the drop adopts an axisymmetric spheroidal shape. In the Quincke regime, we find that the presence of a weakly-diffusing surfactant results in a lower critical electric field than that for a drop with uniform surfactant coverage. Varying the elasticity number, which quantifies the variation of the surface tension as a function of the surfactant concentration, can either increase or decrease the critical field strength depending on the diffusivity of the surfactant. Additionally, we find that the experimentally observed hysteresis in the angular velocity of the drop can disappear when surfactant diffusion is sufficiently weak.