Abstract
AbstractTo fabricate nanofibers with reproducible characteristics, an important demand for many applications, the effect of controlled atmospheric conditions on resulting electrospun cellulose acetate (CA) nanofibers was evaluated for temperature ranging 17.5 - 35°C and relative humidity ranging 20% - 70%. With the potential application of nanofibers in many industries, especially membrane and filter fabrication, their reproducible production must be established to ensure commercially viability.Cellulose acetate (CA) solution (0.2 g/ml) in a solvent mixture of acetone/DMF/ethanol (2:2:1) was electrospun into nonwoven fibre mesh with the fibre diameter ranging from 150nm to 1µm.The resulting nanofibers were observed and analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), showing a correlation of reducing average fibre diameter with increasing atmospheric temperature. A less pronounced correlation was seen with changes in relative humidity regarding fibre diameter, though it was shown that increased humidity reduced the effect of fibre beading yielding a more consistent, and therefore better quality of fibre fabrication.Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) studies observed lower melt enthalpies for finer CA nanofibers in the first heating cycle confirming the results gained from SEM analysis. From the conditions that were explored in this study the temperature and humidity that gave the most suitable fibre mats for a membrane purpose were 25.0°C and 50%RH due to the highest level of fibre diameter uniformity, the lowest level of beading while maintaining a low fibre diameter for increased surface area and increased pore size homogeneity. This study has highlighted the requirement to control the atmospheric conditions during the electrospinning process in order to fabricate reproducible fibre mats.
Highlights
The first significant report of electrospinning to produce polymer fibres came in 1934 when a patent by A
The change in average fibre diameter for the variable ranges was larger than the values reported by MitUppatham et al, (2004) but this is unsurprising since a different polymer solvent system was employed here [26]
The results showed that the fibre diameter decreases with increasing temperature
Summary
The first significant report of electrospinning to produce polymer fibres came in 1934 when a patent by A. Due to the difficulty of precisely controlling the large number parameters the reproducible production of nanofibers becomes problematical which is an issue for the use and development of nanofibers in industries such as biotechnology & health care These parameters can be split up into three subcategories: Polymer solution parameters involving rheological and chemical properties of solutions. Collecting on a non flat or porous surface can be beneficial as it allows for faster drying of the deposited fibres reducing the moulding together effect which can deteriorate fibre properties This is applicable for aqueous polymer solutions due to the lower volatility in comparison to other solvents commonly associated with electrospinning. In order to control the process further, thereby improving the reproducibility of the resulting fibre morphology, this report investigates the effect of the electrospinning environment by controlling air temperature and humidity. The polymer solution parameters and processing conditions remain fixed for the entire investigation
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