Electrospinning setup

A typical apparatus for electrospinning of polymers consists of a nozzle, a high-voltage power supply, a container for polymer fluid, and an electrode collector of an injection pump with a hypodermic syringe (Fig. 1.2]. The solution is pumped through the needle/ nozzle, a grounded collector that can be either stationary or rotating. Experiments can also be carried out in a box in order to precisely control environmental conditions such as temperature and relative humidity. 

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Fig. 5 Modified electrospinning setup utilizing a rotating drum (a). Typical dimensions of rotating drum (b) [146]...

Fig. 4 (a) Electrospinning setup with counter electrodes used to focus the area of fiber deposition, (b-e) Images of resultant nanofiber mats electrospun with (b) no auxiliary electrodes, (c) one auxiliary counter electrode, and (d, e) both counter and like electrodes with different separation distances between them [48]... 

Fig. 5 (a) Electrospinning setup using an auxiliary counter electrode to direction the path of an electrospinning jet. (b, c) A tubular structure with diagonally oriented aligned nanofibers was fabricated when a mandrel was placed in the path of the jet at an angle [87]... 

FIGURE 55.2 Two-stream electrospinning setup. (Reprinted from Polymer, 49(26), Agarwal, S., Wendorff, J.H., and Greiner, A., Use of electrospinning technique for biomedical applications, 5603-5621. Copyright 2008, with permission from Elsevier.)... 

Electrospinning processes are used to prepare nanocomposite fiber mats. In order to prepare nanocomposite fiber mats, mixtures containing the polymer solution and cellulose whiskers solution are placed in the appropriated electrospinning setup. Peresin et al. [128] have produced nanocomposite mats of poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) reinforced with cellulose nanocrystals using this electrospinning technique. Smooth nonwoven mats with homogeneous nanofibers were obtained. Park et al. [129] have also incorporated cellulose whiskers into nanofibers of polyethylene oxide (PEO) by the electrospiiming process. 

Figure 15.1 Schematic sketch of the electrospinning setup used for producing fibers with diameters in the micro/nanometer range. As an example of electrospinning application to cationic polymers, SEM images of (A) hydroxybutyl chitosan (HBC) nanofibers and (B) HBC/collagen blend nanofibers are shown. Both scaffolds are essentially constituted by fiber sizes in the nanometer range and can be handled without tearing. (Adapted from Dang and Leong with permission from Wiley-VCH.)...

Interfacial Electrokinetic Fiow, Fig. 5 Schematic illustration of the electrospinning setup for the generation of nanometer- and micron-sized fibers... 

Figure 11.1 Schematic illustration of the basic electrospinning setup. (Reproduced with permission from Ref. [15] Copyright 2012 American Chemical Society.)...

There are several patents and methods describing modified electrospinning setups that make it possible to electrospin other materials or other formats for specific applications or to achieve better productivity. Some kind of rule of thumb is that modified spinneret electrodes should be used for higher output and modified collector systems developed have been to change the shape of the output material. A few of these inventions have begun to work on an industrial scale. 

Figure 10.15. Bubble electrospinning setup with multiple gas inlets for mass production of nanofibers [96]...

Figure 10.18. Schematic representation of electrospinning setup equipped with a rotating drum collector [99]...

Figure 20,5 Common electrospinning setup used in academia (Sell and Bowlin, 2008). Reprinted with permission from Royal Society of Chemistry.

In view of the toxicity of the solvents used for dissolving PLA, several studies successfully electrospun PLA from the melt phase. Zhou et al. [110] deployed an electrospinning setup where the polymer was held in a heated reservoir maintained at 200°C, while the nozzle of the spinneret was... 

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