A pipette dispenses a charged droplet

Micropipettes are widely used in many scientific and engineering fields. However, it is hardly known that a droplet dispensed from a plastic pipette tip has a considerable amount of charges (order of 10-10 C). Here we report that the charged droplet is dispensed from a commercial and disposable plastic pipette tip and this charge is originated from the natural electrification between a solution and the inner surface of the pipette tip. The charge amount is dependent on not only the physicochemical properties of a solution (e.g., pH and a concentration) but also dispensing environments (e.g., atmospheric humidity and type of commercial pipette tip). To investigate the effects of the charge on the droplet dispensing, we calculate the electrical force between the droplet and the pipette tip though numerical simulation. The micropipette users especially, who are dealing with discrete droplets in their experiments, should consider this charge effect in their dispensing of a droplet.