Electrospinning of circumferentially aligned polymer nanofibers floating on rotating water collector

• Published in: Journal of applied polymer science Vol. 137; no. 22
• Main Authors: Li, Shichen, Lee, Bong‐Kee
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken, USA John Wiley & Sons, Inc 10.06.2020; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Alignment; Conductivity; Electrospinning; fibers; Flow velocity; Fluid dynamics; Fluid flow; Liquid flow; Liquid surfaces; Materials science; Mats; membranes; Nanofibers; Polymers; polystyrene; Rotation
• ISSN: 0021-8995; 1097-4628
• DOI: 10.1002/app.48759

ABSTRACT This work outlines a novel electrospinning process using a rotating water collector. The circumferentially aligned nanofibers are successfully fabricated using this process. The movement and conductivity of the liquid collector are considered as the two prime factors to investigate the interaction between electrospun nanofibers and liquid surface. Through the theoretical analysis of the movement of liquid collector, it is confirmed that the liquid flow velocity demonstrates a tendency to decline from the center of the vortex to the edge of the container. Experimental results show that as the fluid flow velocity increases, the alignment of the nanofibers increases as well. In addition, it is discovered that the conductivity of the water collector demonstrates no significant effect on the alignment of nanofibers. However, the solution with higher conductivity can produce a nanofiber mat with smaller dimension. The present study confirms the versatility of the liquid collector and can be used to prepare nanofiber mats with complicated structures. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2020, 137, 48759.