Beads formed during electrospinning can normally be controlled by optimizing the solute concentration, applied voltage and collector speed etc. I have tried concentration and voltage variations but still acquire high bead density in my SEM images.
I am in a project where I do not want to rotate the collector. I want the collector to be stationary. Are these beads formed due to not rotating the collector?
Is there any other parameter which can avoid bead formation?
Any thoughts?
Hello, Syed Waqar Hasan ! Have you tried a combination of polar solvents ? You could also experiment some cationic surfactant like CTAB, DTAB, TBAC. Polystyrene was one of the hardest polymers to electrospun without beads that I have ever seen.This scientists showed how effective the surfactant can be for the obtainment of a non-beaded material: Tong Lin et al 2004 Nanotechnology 15 1375
I hope it helps
Dear all, most likely beads formation is related to the process parameters. The following free access links deal such a problem and its correction. My Regards
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/313324501_Electrospun_Fibers_of_Cyclodextrins_and_Polycyclodextrins
https://doi.org/10.3390/ma8052718
https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/525419
DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.74661
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.arabjc.2015.11.015
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6176837/
Dear all, the following link explains clearly the origin of bead formation in electrospinning process. My Regards
http://electrospintech.com/beads.html#.Xxvr9WTftkw
Raphael Carneiro Lima Machado , thanks alot for your suggestion. Presently, i am not using surfactants. I am using PAN dissovled in DMF. Later on, those electrospun mats are to be used in electrochemical applications. I am afraid that those surfactants may disturb the performance (if they are not evaporated during spinning). What are your thoughts !?
Syed Waqar Hasan the surfactants will be present on the mat, but, you could wash the fibers (with an appropriate solvent) to remove the surfactants. You could also try a combination of DMF and THF (70:30) if your polymer allows such combination. Hope it helps !
- Hello, Syed Waqar Hasan; The collector can be non-rotating but you must select the appropriate device parameters and solution concentration. For speed in this work, I suggest you choose the articles that used this material and have fibers without beads and try with its parameters. My Regards
- 10.1002/app.45858
- 10.1016/j.synthmet.2005.07.340
- 10.1080/15533174.2013.862696
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