(348c) Development and Optimization of An Alternative Electrospinning Process for the Production of Higher Throughput Polymeric Nanofibers

Polymeric nanofibers, such as those fabricated through electrospinning, have diverse applications including sensitive filters, tissue scaffolds, autonomous sensors within textiles (smart textiles), and fuel cells. In the standard electrospinning process, in which fiber growth originates at a droplet suspended from a charged and confined geometry, the fabrication rate is very slow (0.01 ? 0.1 g/hr). This low throughput limits commercial applications, despite the high potential for fibers of this size (d ≈ 100 nm). The current confined feed systems are low throughput and have technical issues (such as orifice clogging). Our approach uses the edge of a plate coated with a self-assembled monolayer (to control the surface properties between the plate and the polymer solution). We spin fibers from this unconfined geometry and our edge-plate electrospun fibers are similar to those produced by a confined geometry, yet offer greater potential for scale-up using a relatively simple set up. We analyze and compare the electric field magnitude and gradient, and polymer jet profiles of different configurations. Also we study the influence of feed method and electric field intensity and working distance of the edge-plate geometry on fiber diameter. Results with polyethylene oxide (PEO) produce fibers with similar diameter and morphology to those from the traditional technique but production is ≈10 times greater with the present set up. We also discuss the extension of this work to alternate edge-type geometry. Initial experiments have shown promising results for further scale-up without compromising the fiber morphology.