Non‐ionic surfactants for enhancing electrospinability and for the preparation of electrospun nanofibers

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Electrospinning is widely used to produce nanofibers; however, not every polymer can be electrospun into nanofibers. To enhance electrospinability, much effort has been made in designing new apparatus, such as vibration‐electrospinning, magneto‐electrospinning and bubble‐electrospinning. RESULTS: A representative non‐ionic surfactant, TritonR X‐100, is used to enhance electrospinability. The surfactant is added to an electrospun poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) polymer solution, and a dramatic reduction in surface tension is observed. As a result, a moderate voltage is needed to produce fine nanofibers, which are commonly observed during the conventional electrospinning procedure only at elevated voltage. CONCLUSION: The novel strategy produces smaller nanofibers than those obtained without surfactants, and the minimum threshold voltage is much decreased. Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry

Synthesis and characterization of novel ultrathin polyimide fibers via sol–gel process and electrospinning

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Improving Polymer Nanofiber Quality Using a Modified Co‐axial Electrospinning Process

“…Correspondingly, much research has been reported on enhancing productivity of the electrospinning process 1, 2. However, few studies have reported the systematic improvement of the quality of nanofibers, other than how to synthesize thinner electrospun nanofibers thinner 3–5. Quality control issues should be addressed in addition to productivity for investigating functional nanofibers products.…”

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