Nanoscale adhesion and attachment oscillation under the geometric potential. Part 1: The formation mechanism of nanofiber membrane in the electrospinning

Abstract

An electrospinning process is to produce nanofibers from a polymer solution by a high electrostatic force, which is used to eject jets from a Taylor cone formed on a nozzle. When a moving jet approaches to a receptor within few nanometers during the electrospinning process, a Casimir-like attraction is formed, which attracts the jet’s end to the surface of the receptor. Thousands of thousands nanofibers will be attached on the receptor’s surface or attached on each other, as a result a nanofiber membrane is formed. The geometric potential was implemented to explain the nanoscale adhesion, which is greatly affected by the attachment oscillation. Mathematical models are established to describe the attachment oscillation under the Lennard-Jones potential and the geometric potential, respectively, and their amplitude-frequency relationship is elucidated analytically. The present theory gives an alternative explanation of the gecko effect and molecule scale forces.