TY - JOUR
T1 - Experimental study on ionic liquid electrospray
T2 - Exploring the influence mechanism of steady-state emission
AU - Zheng, Wei jie
AU - Liu, Xu hui
AU - Wang, Wei zong
AU - Sun, Ren guo hao
AU - Cheng, Yu feng
AU - Zhang, Jin rui
AU - Wang, Xu dong
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2026 Elsevier Ltd. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies.
PY - 2026/5
Y1 - 2026/5
N2 - Micro-Newton-level ionic liquid electrospray thrusters offer advantages such as ultra-high precision, large push ratio, and compact size. They can be applied to high-precision basic science research tasks and propulsion systems for high-quality micro-nano satellite constellations. The steady-state emission of the electrospray is affected by multiple factors, and the underlying mechanisms remain to be explored, especially the influence of different ionic liquids. Therefore, electrospray emission experiments on different ionic liquids are conducted in this paper, three ionic liquids, namely 1-ethyl-trimethylimidazole dicyandiamide (EMIM-DCA), 1-butyl-trimethylimidazole hexafluoroborate (BMIM-PF6), and 1-butyl-trimethylimidazolium dicyandiamide (BMIM-DCA) are selected for investigation. The effects of operating voltage, flow rate, and the physical properties of the ionic liquids are examined. Three distinct emission modes of electrospray are observed: the electro-droplet, the spindle mode, and the stable cone-jet mode. The results demonstrate that the stable cone-jet mode exists within an appropriate voltage range and is influenced by both flow rate and voltage, larger flow rates require higher voltages to maintain stability. Furthermore, among them, BMIM-DCA has the widest adjustable operating voltage range in the stable cone-jet mode, with a stable voltage range of up to 1700V, which able to be used as one of the preferred propellants for variable thrust electrospray thrusters.
AB - Micro-Newton-level ionic liquid electrospray thrusters offer advantages such as ultra-high precision, large push ratio, and compact size. They can be applied to high-precision basic science research tasks and propulsion systems for high-quality micro-nano satellite constellations. The steady-state emission of the electrospray is affected by multiple factors, and the underlying mechanisms remain to be explored, especially the influence of different ionic liquids. Therefore, electrospray emission experiments on different ionic liquids are conducted in this paper, three ionic liquids, namely 1-ethyl-trimethylimidazole dicyandiamide (EMIM-DCA), 1-butyl-trimethylimidazole hexafluoroborate (BMIM-PF6), and 1-butyl-trimethylimidazolium dicyandiamide (BMIM-DCA) are selected for investigation. The effects of operating voltage, flow rate, and the physical properties of the ionic liquids are examined. Three distinct emission modes of electrospray are observed: the electro-droplet, the spindle mode, and the stable cone-jet mode. The results demonstrate that the stable cone-jet mode exists within an appropriate voltage range and is influenced by both flow rate and voltage, larger flow rates require higher voltages to maintain stability. Furthermore, among them, BMIM-DCA has the widest adjustable operating voltage range in the stable cone-jet mode, with a stable voltage range of up to 1700V, which able to be used as one of the preferred propellants for variable thrust electrospray thrusters.
KW - Electrospray thruster
KW - Emission modes
KW - Ionic liquids
KW - Stable cone-jet
KW - Variable thrust
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105033332806
U2 - 10.1016/j.vacuum.2026.115238
DO - 10.1016/j.vacuum.2026.115238
M3 - 文章
AN - SCOPUS:105033332806
SN - 0042-207X
VL - 248
JO - Vacuum
JF - Vacuum
M1 - 115238
ER -