Blowing-Assisted Electrospinning Nozzle for Nanofiber Production
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Solution Overview
Problem
Electrospinning methods face challenges with low production speed and high fouling issues, limiting the throughput of nanofiber production, especially for smaller fiber sizes, which hinders mass production in industrial and laboratory applications.
Innovation Solution
A blowing-assisted electrospinning method using a double-walled nozzle with a coaxial inner and outer tube, where a spinning solution is fed through the inner tube and a pressurized solvent/gas stream is concurrently fed through the outer tube, assisted by an electrical field to enhance fiber production and reduce fouling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If traditional electrospinning is used, then nanofibers can be produced, but production speed is low and throughput is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The single nozzle is divided into multiple nozzles (e.g., 5 nozzles with 20 holes each, totaling 100 holes), allowing simultaneous production of multiple nanofiber streams. This segmentation multiplies the production capacity while maintaining the electrospinning mechanism for each individual hole, thereby resolving the contradiction between production speed and nanofiber throughput.
2Manufacturing precision
If electrospinning is used for smaller fiber sizes, then finer nanofibers are produced, but fouling of the nozzle increases
Solution Approach 1:
Each of the 100 holes in the nozzle array has a specific local geometry (e.g., 10-50 micrometer diameter) optimized for producing fine nanofibers. The distributed architecture ensures that fouling is localized to individual holes rather than accumulating across a single nozzle, allowing easier maintenance and continued production of smaller fiber sizes with reduced fouling issues.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This method achieves high throughput production of nanofibers with reduced fouling, enabling consistent and efficient fabrication of smaller fiber sizes, addressing the limitations of traditional electrospinning techniques.
Implementation Method 1
an external electrostatic field is applied to a conductive fluid, for example a spinning solution, a suspended conical droplet, which is called Taylor cone, is formed
Implementation Method 2
electrospinning is a fiber production method that uses electric force to draw charged threads of polymer solutions or polymer melts
Implementation Method 3
The liquid droplet then becomes unstable and a tiny jet is ejected from the surface of the droplet. The ejected jet may be absorbed by a collector as a result of the electrostatic field
Data Source
AI summary
A method and an apparatus for fabricating nanofibrous articles is disclosed. The method may include providing a double-walled nozzle with an inner tube coaxially disposed within an outer tube. In addition, the double-walled nozzle is secured in front of a collector and an electrical field is applied between a tip of the double-walled nozzle and the collector. The method further includes preparing a spinning solution by dissolving a polymer in a solvent, mixing a vapor stream of the solvent with a stream of a pressurized gas with a predetermined ratio to obtain a pressurized solvent/gas stream feeding the spinning solution through the inner tube of the double-walled nozzle, and concurrently feeding the pressurized solvent/gas stream through the outer tube of the double-walled nozzle. The spinning solution and the pressurized solvent/gas stream may concurrently be discharged from the double-walled nozzle and drawn toward the collector being collected as nanofibrous articles on the collector.