Abstract
The influence of the electrospinning parameters on the diameter of the polyethersulfone (PES) nanofibers was demonstrated using response surface methodology. The electrospinning parameters studied were lithium chloride (LiCl) concentration, PES concentration, feed rate, and tip-to-collector distance. The average fiber diameter was correlated to these factors by using a second-order polynomial function at a 95% confidence level. The statistical analysis indicated that LiCl concentration, PES concentration, and feed rate had the significant connection with the fiber diameter, and LiCl concentration was the most important factor in determining the fiber diameter. When LiCl concentration increased, the fiber diameter decreased, because with more LiCl that is added, more applied voltage is needed to overcome the electrostatic attractions. The interactive effect between PES concentration and feed rate, the interactive effect between PES concentration and tip-to-collector distance, and the quadratic coefficients of LiCl concentration were also found to be significant. The adjusted determination coefficient (Radj2) of the model was calculated to be 0.9106. The water flux measurements showed that the decrease in the fiber diameter of the membrane caused the decrease in the initial pure water flux. The retention tests with 0.6 μm polystyrene (PS) suspension indicated that as the fiber diameter decreased, the pore sizes decreased and the particle removal efficiency increased.
Highlights
Many researchers have recently been interested in the fabrication of ultrafine and uniform fibers using various materials such as organics, inorganics, and composites [1]
LiCl concentration, PES concentration, feed rate, and tip-to-collector distance was selected as independent variables because these mainly influence to fiber-diameter which determine the pore size of electrospun nanofibrous membranes (ENMs)
We found that all linear coefficients of the LiCl concentration (X1 ), PES concentration (X2 ), feed rate (X3 ) and tip-to-collector distance (X4 ) affected the applied voltage significantly at p < 0.05
Summary
Many researchers have recently been interested in the fabrication of ultrafine and uniform fibers using various materials such as organics, inorganics, and composites [1]. Electrospun nanofiber membranes (ENMs) were widely applied for the particle separation from water. The fiber diameter influences various properties of the electrospun nanofibrous membranes (ENMs) (i.e., morphology, specific surface, water treatment performance, and so on). To fabricate electrospun nanofibers which have the desired fiber diameter and morphology, it is necessary to adjust various processing parameters (i.e., flow rate, tip-to-collector distance, and so on) and solution parameters (i.e., salt concentration, polymer concentration, and so on). The electrospinning parameters considered were solution properties (i.e., salt concentration, polymer concentration) and operating conditions (i.e., flow rate, tip-to-collector distance), and the response in the experiment was the average fiber diameter. The objectives of this study were to observe the morphology change of PES nanofibers through blending LiCl and investigate the influence of electrospinning parameters on the fiber diameter systematically by the RSM. We identified the properties of particulate removal according to the morphology of nanofibers in liquid filtration and evaluated the applicability of PES ENMs as filters
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