Centrifugal spinning, a recently developed approach for ultra-fine fiber production, has attracted much attention as compared with the electrospinning, due to its high yield, no solution polarity and high-voltage electrostatic field requirements, etc. In this study, the jet formation process and spinning parameters on jet path are explored and compared in nozzle-and nozzle-less centrifugal spinning systems. For nozzle-less centrifugal spinning, fingers are formed at the front of thin liquid film due to the theory of Rayleigh-Taylor instability. We find that the lower solution concentration and higher rotational speed favor the formation of thinner and longer fingers. Then, the critical angular velocity and initial jet velocity for nozzle-/nozzle-less centrifugal spinning are obtained in accordance with the balance of centrifugal force, viscous force, and surface tension. When jet leaves the spinneret, it will undergo a series of motions including necking and whipping processes, and then, a steady spiral jet path is formed with its radius getting tighter. Finally, we experimentally study the effect of rotational speed and solution concentration on jet path, which shows that the higher rotational speed results in a larger radius of jet path while the solution concentration has little effect on it.

Developing efficient earth-abundant MoS2 based hydrogen evolution electrocatalysts is important but still challenging due to the disappointingly sluggish kinetics in alkaline media.Herein, for the first time, a strategy to fabricating high-performance MoS2 based hydrogen evolution electrocatalyst by modulating interface electronic structure via metal oxides is This is the peer reviewed version of the following article:

Centrifugal spinning converts the conformation of silk fibroin from random coil to β-sheet more easily than electrospinning, which results in fiber differences on secondary structures, orientation and thermal properties.

We developed a new environmentally-friendly disposable nonwoven based on centrifugally spun ST/PVA ultrafine fibrous membrane in this research. The effects of ST/PVA ratio as well as formic acid post-treatment on thermal properties, tensile strength, and disposability of fibrous membranes were studied.To observe the morphology and chemical structures changing of fibers during fabrication and post-treatment, the obtained fibers were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The fibrous membranes with uniform fiber diameters and excellent disposability properties were formed. The ST/PVA ratio of fibers was optimized according to the disposability and tensile strength of the fibrous membranes. Disintegration of untreated and post-treatment fibrous membrane with ST/PVA ratio of 3/1 was over 80% and 40%, respectively, and the tensile strength was improved over two times comparing with pure starch fibrous membrane.

No abstract