Needleless electroSpinning of multiple nanofibers

Abstract

To satisfy the increasing applications of the electrospun nanofibers, a novel method for the high throughput nanofibers electrospinning which is called "Needleless ElectroSpinning (NES)" is presented in the article. Instead of using the conventional needle, ElectroHydroDynamics (EHD) instabilities mechanism on the electrified liquid film free surface forms the foundation of the NES process, in which, we use a metal cylindrical rotator with smooth or tipped surface as the spinneret electrode, and the production rate of nanofibers can be controlled by adjusting the length and diameter of cylindrical rotator. The main factor such as solution concentration, the diameter of cylindrical rotator, the distance between the rotator and the grounded collector and so on are investigated in our experiment. Results show that solid nanofibers with diameter of 100 nm-800 nm can be electrospun onto metal substrate with electrode-to-substrate distance of 10-20 cm under bias of 40-70 kV. Compared with the conventional electrospinning method, the yield is expected to be increased by more than 125 times.