Electrospinning as a Fascinating Platform for Teaching Applied Polymer Science with Safe and Sustainable Experiments

Abstract

Electrospinning has been widely used as a versatile technique to generate nanofibers of various materials. It is also helpful in teaching topics ranging from macromolecular chemistry to physics, safety, and sustainability at various levels of difficulty and student involvement. Simple and safe hands-on experiments/manual assays can be realized for less than 30 euros to demonstrate polymer viscosity and nanofiber alignment and solubility. Students can further study (super)hydrophobicity and even upcycle packaging waste into useful filter materials but also improve the electrospinning setup from a manual assay to an inexpensive Arduino-based 3D printed research platform. Alternatively, the latter can be used for teacher demonstrations of more challenging experiments that can also be easily done using a commercial syringe-pump.