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To obtain uniform and reproducible nanofibres, it is important to understand the effect of the different electrospinning parameters on the nanofibre morphology. Even though a lot of literature is available on the electrospinning of nanofibres, only minor research has been performed on the effect of the relative humidity (RH). This paper investigates the influence of this parameter on the electrospinning process and fibre morphology of the hydrophilic polyamide 4.6 and the less hydrophilic polyamide 6.9. First, the electrospinning process and deposition area of the nanofibres is examined at 10, 50 and 70 % RH. Subsequently, the effect of the polyamide concentration and solvent ratio on the fibre morphology is investigated using scanning electron microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry. It was found that the nanofibre diameter decreased with increasing RH. This resulted in less stable crystals for polyamide 4.6 while electrospinning of polyamide 6.9 at higher RH led to slightly more stable crystals. In conclusion, the water affinity of a polymer is an important factor in predicting the nanofibre morphology at different humidities

Electrospinning is the most promising method for the large-scale production of nanofiber membranes. Multi-nozzle systems have already proven to be successful in producing polyamide nanofiber membranes suitable for water filtration. In this contribution, conditions for steady state electrospinning of polyethersulphone were investigated. Steady state electrospinning of PES was only possible for a limited number of electrospinning parameter combinations. Only a polymer concentration of 25 and 26 wt% resulted in defect-free nanofiber membranes. The solvent ratio of DMF:NMP can be varied from 95:5 (v:v%) to 85:15 (v:v%) to generate uniform nanofibers with average diameters varying from 300 to 730 nm all with relatively narrow standard deviation as low as 20 %. These results, thus, allow for a well-chosen set of electrospinning parameters for scaling up electrospinning of polyethersulphone nanofiber membranes.

Electrospinning is an efficient method for the production of polyamide nanofiber membranes that are suitable for water filtration. Previous studies have shown that nanofiber membranes have high clean water permeability. The pathogen removal efficiency can be improved by functionalization with (organic) biocides. However, these membranes, like other membranes, are vulnerable to fouling which reduces the filtration efficiency. Therefore the present article investigates the potential of zinc phthalocyanines, which can produce singlet oxygen in the presence of visible light, as a functionalizing agent. The polyamide nanofiber membranes were functionalized with phthalocyanines using both a pre-functionalizing and post-functionalizing method. Only the postfunctionalization method shows to result in nanofiber membranes capable of producing singlet oxygen. After 30 min 45% of 1,2-diphenylisobenzofuran (DPBF), used as an oxygen quencher, was removed by reaction with singlet oxygen. This resulted in a removal rate of 0.

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