Spinning electrospinning

Zarkoob et al. (1998, 2004) were the first to report on the electrospinning of silkworm silk and Nephila clavipes dragline protein. They used an HFIP solution of protein as the spinning dope. The resulting fibers had a wide distribution in diameter and the continuity during spinning could be significantly improved. 

The surface tension seems more likely to be a function of solvent compositions, but is negligibly dependent on the solution concentration. Different solvents may contribute different surface tensions. However, not necessarily a lower surface tension of a solvent will always be more suitable for electrospinning. Generally, surface tension determines the upper and lower boundaries of electrospinning window if all other variables are held constant. The formation of droplets, bead and fibers can be driven by the surface tension of solution and lower surface tension of the spinning solution helps electrospinning to occur at lower electric field [57],... 

In another application electrospinning [189] of PS-fo-P4VP(PDP)i.o supra-molecules was used to produce internally structured fibers with diameters in the range of 200-400 nm. Due to the block copolymer sample selected, self-assembly resulted in spherical P4VP(PDP) domains with the well-known internal lamellar structure. After the PDP was extracted from the fibers using methanol, porous fibers were obtained [190]. With this method, the thickness of the fibers can be tuned by adjusting the spinning conditions, and the size and nature of the pores can be controlled by the choice of block copolymer and amount of amphiphile. 

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