The electrospinning process uses large electric fields to produce nano- or micro- scale polymer fibers.  Electrospinning  is usually carried out with high volatility solvents so that the solvents can efficiently evaporate from the fiber in time for theindividual  polymer fibers to be collected on a grounded, rotating mandrel.  In some applications, where it is desired to produce structures with unique electrical, chemical or mechanical properties, the polymers must be dissolved in solvents that have high boiling points. The challenge of spinning using these low volatility solvents has not been addressed so far and no proper study on how to augment evaporation from the fibers during spinning and increase the rate of mass transfer from the fiber mat around the drum has been reported on yet. A simple and successful method for spinning aligned fiber mats from low volatility solvents is presented in this work. This technique uses a series of parallel aluminum rods, spaced evenly above the outer surface of the smooth rotating drum that serves as the collector. Aligned fiber sheets can be easily collected on this new mandrel, making this an easily scalable process. Rod size, location, and height above the mandrel can be adjusted to optimize the mass transfer and allow for efficient evaporation and drying.  Both experimental and simulation work to understand the how the mandrel design augments the formation of fibers and allows high conductivity, electrospun, polyaniline fibers for battery electrodes, cell culture, or supercapacitors to be fabricated will be discussed.


Electrospinning Continuously Aligned Fibers From Low Volatility Solutions

Division / Sponsors: 
Heat Transfer Division (HTD), Fluids Engineering Division (FED)

Heat Transfer Summer Conference
Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/HT/HT2020/volume/83709

18th International Conference on Nanochannels, Microchannels, and Minichannels
Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/ICNMM/ICNMM2020/volume/83693

Fluids Engineering Division Summer Meeting
Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/FEDSM/FEDSM2020/volume/83716

HT-ICNMM2020 - Virtual Conference, SHTC - Virtual Conference, FEDSM2020 - Virtual Conference

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