Disk-electrospinning of PVA nanofibres

In this study, we demonstrated that a thin aluminium disk can be used as nozzle to electrospin PVA nanofibres on a large-scale. A schematic of this electrospinning system and a SEM image of as-spun PVA nanofibers are shown in Figure 1. The lower part of the disk is inside a bath containing the polymer solution, which is connected to a high voltage powder supply. During electrospinning, the disk rotates and picks up a thin layer of electrically charged PVA solution. A large number of fibres are then electrospun simultaneously from two sides of tile disk and deposited on the electrode collector.<br />With the small prototype unit we used, the fibre production rate can be as high as 6.0 which is about 270 times higher than that of a corresponding normal needle electrospinning system (0.022g/hr). The effects of appliedb voltage, the distance between the disk nozzle and collector, and PVA concentration on the fibre morphology were examined. The dependency of fibre diameter on the PVA concentration showed a similar trend to that for a conventional electrospinning system using a syringe needle nozzle, but the diameter distribution was wider for the disk electrospun fibres in this study.<br />The profiles of electric field strength in disk electrospinning showed considerable dependence on the disk thickness, with a thin disk exhibiting similar electric field profile to<br />that of a needle electrospinning system, but a thick disk (cylinder) exhibiting levelled electric field between the disk and the collector. PVA nanofibres electrospun from disk electrospinning were compared to that electrospun from syringe needle and metal cylinder nozzles.