Electrohydrodynamic removal of particles from drop surfaces

A uniform electric field is used for cleaning drops of the particles they often carry on their surface. In a first step, particles migrate to either the drop's poles or equator. This is due to the presence of an electrostatic force for which an analytical expression is derived. In a second step, particles concentrated near the poles are released into the ambient liquid via tip streaming, and those near the equator are removed by stretching the drop and breaking it into several droplets. In the latter case, particles are all concentrated in a small middle daughter droplet.