High-throughput rod-induced electrospinning

A high throughput electrospinning process, directly from flat polymer solution surfaces induced by a moving insulating rod, has been proposed and demonstrated. Different rods made of either phenolic resin or paper with a diameter of 1–3 cm and a resistance of about 100–500 MΩ, has been successfully utilized in the process. The rod is placed approximately 10 mm above the flat polymer solution surface with a moving speed of 0.005–0.4 m s −1 ; this causes the solution to generate multiple liquid jets under an applied voltage of 15–60 kV for the tip-less electrospinning process. The local electric field induced by the rod can boost electrohydrodynamic instability in order to generate Taylor cones and liquid jets. Experimentally, it is found that a large rod diameter and a small solution-to-rod distance can enhance the local electrical field to reduce the magnitude of the applied voltage. In the prototype setup with poly (ethylene oxide) polymer solution, an area of 5 cm × 10 cm and under an applied voltage of 60 kV, the maximum throughput of nanofibers is recorded to be approximately144 g m −2 h −1 .