Patent ID: 7341211

Claim:
A device used to produce steady capillary jets and liquid drops of at least one of micrometric and nanometric size, comprising: a plurality of fluids; a plurality of concentrically arranged capillary tubes, wherein each capillary tube of said plurality of concentrically arranged capillary tubes is surrounded by and transports a fluid i selected from the plurality of fluids and having a flow-rate Q i , wherein i is an integer from 1 to N and N is equal to or greater than 1, wherein each said capillary tube of said plurality of concentrically arranged capillary tubes is connected to an electric potential V i with respect to a ground electrode; and wherein each fluid transported by a corresponding capillary tube is immiscible with an adjacent fluid transported by an adjacent capillary tube; an electrode, connected to an electric potential V 0 , facing an outlet of a first capillary tube selected from the plurality of concentrically arranged capillary tubes, said electrode includes an orifice having a minimal transversal dimension D 0 ranging from 10 −6 to 10 2 times a minimal transversal dimension D 1 of an outlet section of an outermost capillary tube of the plurality of concentrically arranged capillary tubes; said orifice is located facing an outlet of a second capillary tube selected from the plurality of concentrically arranged capillary tubes at a distance ranging from 0.005 to 5 times D 1 ; said electrode is shaped wherein each point of a surface of said electrode that is oriented toward said plurality of concentrically arranged capillary tubes is disposed a distance from the outer surface of the outermost capillary tube of the plurality of concentrically arranged capillary tubes, which is greater than a minimal distance from the orifice of said electrode to a capillary tube of the plurality of concentrically arranged capillary tubes having an outlet larger than outlets of all other capillary tubes of the plurality of concentrically arranged capillary tubes.