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On the electrospinning of poly(vinyl alcohol) nanofiber mats: A revisit
Author(s) -
Supaphol Pitt,
Chuangchote Surawut
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.27664
Subject(s) - vinyl alcohol , electrospinning , materials science , nanofiber , sonication , fiber , composite material , scanning electron microscope , synthetic fiber , polyvinyl alcohol , viscosity , polymer chemistry , chemical engineering , polymer , engineering
Electrospinning was used to fabricate mats of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA; M w = 72,000 Da, degree of hydrolysis ≈ 97.5–99.5) nanofibers from PVA solutions in reverse osmotic water. The effects of solution concentration, applied electrical potential, sonication, and collection distance on morphological appearance and diameters of the as‐spun fiber mats as well as those of the individual fibers were carefully investigated mainly by scanning electron microscopy. The effect of the distance from the center of the as‐spun fiber mat on morphological appearance and diameters of the as‐spun fibers was also investigated. The mechanical integrity of some as‐spun PVA fiber mats was also investigated. At all concentrations and applied electrical potentials investigated, the average diameters of the as‐spun PVA fibers ranged between 85 and 647 nm. The use of sonication to prepare a PVA solution caused the viscosity of the solution to decrease; hence, the observed decrease in the average diameters of the as‐spun fibers and the average diameters of the as‐spun fibers were practically the same throughout the as‐spun fiber mat. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008