Universal Nanocolloid Deposition Patterns: Harmonics of a Taylor Cone and Separation of DNA-Hybridized Nanocolloids*

With judiciously placed far-field electrodes, harmonics of the Laplace equation are selected near a conducting Taylor cone with discrete polar angles for the field maxima. Charged nanocolloids ejected along the discrete electric field lines of these mode maxima are observed to deposit a universal spectrum of rings on an intersecting plane, with particles of different size occupying different spectral lines due to different residue charge. After an affine transformation, nanocolloids ejected into a microslit and deposited onto one substrate exhibit the same universal line spectra. The size-selective deposition pattern is used to quantify DNA hybridization yield onto oligo-functionalized nanocolloids.