Agricultural skin grafting

A method of forming a coating over a surface of a substrate from monofunctional molecules contained within a liquid solution in a spray head, the spray head comprising a dispensing device, the liquid solution including a solvent and a solute, the solute comprising a plurality of the monofunctional molecules, the monofunctional molecules including monomer units, oligomer units, or combinations thereof, the method comprising:

• causing a surface of the liquid adjacent to the dispensing device to become electrically charged;
• forming droplets from the liquid solution at the electrically charged surface, causing the droplets to have an electrical charge, and directing the droplets to the surface of the substrate, wherein the droplets include a plurality of the monofunctional molecules of the solute;
• and
• forming the coating over the surface of the substrate from the plurality of the monofunctional molecules in the droplets;
• wherein
• forming the coating comprises forming at least a monolayer coating of the monofunctional molecules;
• and
• forming the coating further comprises causing a plurality of the monofunctional molecules to each form a covalent bond to a bonding site on the surface of the substrate.

A method of forming a coating over a surface of a substrate from structural units contained within a liquid solution in a spray head, the spray head comprising a dispensing device, the liquid solution including a solvent and a solute, the solute comprising a plurality of the structural units, the structural units in the solute including monomer units, oligomer units, or combinations thereof, the method comprising:

• causing a surface of the liquid solution adjacent to the dispensing device to become electrically charged;
• forming droplets from the liquid solution at the electrically charged surface, causing the droplets to have an electrical charge, and directing the droplets to the surface of the substrate, wherein the droplets include a plurality of the structural units of the solute;
• and
• forming the coating over the surface of the substrate from the plurality of the structural units in the droplets;
• wherein
• the liquid solution within the spray head is configured such that the structural units in the solute within the spray head are in a substantially equilibrium state, such that they do not substantially bond with one another;
• and
• the forming of the droplets and the causing of the droplets to have a net electrical charge results in the solution in the droplets being in a state which is further from equilibrium than a state of the solution contained within the spray head, allowing the structural units in the droplets to form covalent bonds to one another or to the substrate.

A method of catalyzing covalent bonding of structural units on a surface of a substrate, the structural units comprising monomer units, oligomers units, or combinations thereof, the method comprising:

• providing a spray head comprising a dispensing device having an electrically conductive wall, the spray head containing a liquid solution which includes a solvent
• applying a voltage between the wall of the dispensing device and either a ground or an electrode of the spray head, wherein the applied voltage causes a surface of the liquid solution adjacent to the dispensing device to have a net electrical charge;
• forming droplets from the liquid solution at the electrically charged surface adjacent to the dispensing device, causing the droplets to have a net electrical charge, and spraying the droplets on the surface of the substrate;
• and
• allowing solvent in the droplets to at least partially evaporate;
• wherein the net electrical charge of the droplets causes an ion concentration of the liquid solution contained within the droplets to change as the solvent evaporates;
• and
• wherein the ion concentration of the liquid solution after the at least partial evaporation of the solvent in the droplets is within a range that is sufficient to catalyze the covalent bonding of the structural units adjacent to the droplets on the surface of the substrate.

A method of forming a coating over a surface of a substrate from structural units contained within a liquid solution in a reservoir, the method comprising:

• forming electrically charged droplets of the liquid solution, wherein the droplets include a plurality of the structural units;
• directing the electrically charged droplets to the surface of the substrate;
• and
• forming the coating over the surface of the substrate from the plurality of the structural units in the droplets;
• wherein the solution contained within the electrically charged droplets is in a state which is further from equilibrium than a state of the solution contained within the reservoir, allowing the structural units in the droplets to form covalent bonds to one another or to the surface of the substrate.

A method of catalyzing covalent bonding of structural units on a surface of a substrate, the method comprising:

• providing a reservoir comprising a dispensing device, the reservoir containing a solution which includes the structural units in a solvent;
• forming electrically charged droplets of the solution and spraying the droplets on the surface of a substrate;
• and
• allowing solvent in the droplets to at least partially evaporate;
• wherein the electrical charge of the droplets causes an ion concentration of the solution within the droplets to change as the solvent evaporates;
• and
• wherein the ion concentration of the liquid solution after the at least partial evaporation of the solvent in the droplets is within a range that is sufficient to catalyze the covalent bonding of the structural units adjacent to the droplets on the surface of the substrate.