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Hydrodynamic and electrical interactions in electrospinning of polymer fibers over a liquid collector
Author(s) -
Li Shichen,
Lee BongKee
Publication year - 2021
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.51271
Subject(s) - electrospinning , materials science , fiber , polymer , composite material , morphology (biology) , rotational speed , mechanical engineering , genetics , engineering , biology
This paper reports the morphology manipulation of electrospun polymer fibers using a rotating water collector. The hydrodynamic and electrical interactions of the employed liquid collector and electrospun fibers are investigated to reveal their effects on the fiber morphology. The experimental results show that hydrodynamic interaction is the dominant factor. Particularly, a higher flow velocity of the liquid collector produces a fiber mat with a larger area and lower density consisting of electrospun fibers with a smaller diameter and higher degree of alignment. By applying a rotation speed of 600 rpm, a fiber mat area can be increased by ~166% compared with the stationary solid collector while an area fraction is reduced to 45.2%. Furthermore, it is found that the electrical interaction only affects the area and density of the fiber mat. The higher electrical conductivity of the liquid collector leads to a smaller fiber mat area with higher fiber density. The present study offers a new paradigm for precisely manipulating the morphology of electrospun polymer fibers, thus leading to a broad range of applications.