Rayleigh-instability-driven morphology transformation of electrospun polymer fibers imaged by in situ optical microscopy and stimulated Raman scattering microscopy

Chi

Liu

et al. 2016

Macro Materials & Eng

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Acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene (ABS) is a polymer composing of acrylonitrile, butadiene, and styrene. It has been widely used in industry because of its good mechanical and physical properties. The fabrication of ABS fibers, however, has been rarely studied. Here the fabrication of ABS fibers has been reported by an electrospinning technique, in which the sizes and morphologies of the fibers can be controlled by adjusting the electrospinning conditions. The morphologies of the ABS fibers can also be transformed by annealing the fibers on poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) films. After annealing, the ABS fibers gradually transform to ABS particles embedded in the PMMA films by a mechanism similar to the Rayleigh‐instability‐type transformation. To extend the applications of the electrospun ABS fibers, electroless deposition of copper is also conducted, resulting in copper‐coated ABS fibers.

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 94%

Fabrication, Morphology Control, and Electroless Metal Deposition of Electrospun ABS Fibers

Chi

Liu

et al. 2016

Macro Materials & Eng

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“…The morphology transformations of the core–shell fibers are also influenced by the film thickness. Previously, we have studied the morphology transformation of electrospun PS fibers annealed on PMMA films with different thicknesses . We find that the electrospun PS fibers transform into disks or hemispheres depending on the thickness of the PMMA films.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, the growth rates of the undulating amplitude are observed to be affected by the film thickness; the growth rate of the undulated amplitude decreases at thinner PMMA film thicknesses because of the underlying glass substrates. For the morphology transformation of the electropsun PS/PMMA core–shell fibers annealed on PS films, we expect that PMMA microbowls with flat bottoms can be obtained when the film thickness is close to or thinner than the diameters of the fibers because of the interaction between the polymers and the underlying glass substrates …”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although the fabrication and applications of core–shell fibers have been widely studied, the effect of post‐treatment on the morphology transformation of core–shell fibers has been rarely investigated. Post‐treatment, such as thermal or solvent annealing, enables polymer chains to achieve more stable states and is critical for the properties and applications of electrospun polymer core–shell fibers …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Plateau–Rayleigh Instability Morphology Evolution (PRIME): From Electrospun Core–Shell Polymer Fibers to Polymer Microbowls

Macromol. Rapid Commun.

Tseng

et al. 2017

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Electrospun core-shell fibers have great potentials in many areas, such as tissue engineering, drug delivery, and organic solar cells. Although many core-shell fibers have been prepared and studied, the morphology transformation of core-shell fibers have been rarely studied. In this work, the morphology evolution of electrospun core-shell polymer fibers driven by the Plateau-Rayleigh instability is investigated. Polystyrene/poly(methyl methacrylate) (PS/PMMA) core-shell fibers are first prepared by using blend solutions and a single axial electrospinning setup. After PS/PMMA core-shell fibers are annealed on a PS film, the fibers undulate and sink into the polymer film, forming core-shell hemispheres. The evolution process, which can be observed in situ by optical microscopy, is mainly driven by achieving lower surface and interfacial energies. The morphologies of the transformed structures can be confirmed by a selective removal technique, and polymer microbowls can be obtained.

“…Although the morphologies and properties of electrospun polymer fibers have been extensively studied, the morphology transformation of electrospun fibers has been less investigated . Here, we develop a novel approach to anneal electrospun polymer fibers embedded in polymer films.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Breaking embedded electrospun fibers (BEEF): Fabrication of polymer spheres encapsulated in polymer films

Tsai

J Polym Sci B Polym Phys

et al. 2016

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In this work, a novel method to fabricate polymer spheres encapsulated in polymer films by breaking embedded electrospun fibers (BEEF) was developed. Polymer fibers were first prepared by electrospinning and embedded in other polymer films using a three‐layer deposition method. After thermal annealing, the electrospun fibers transform into individual spheres with regular spacing and sizes. Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and polystyrene (PS) are both used as the fiber or film materials. The transformation process can be observed in‐situ by optical microscope (OM) and is similar to the Plateau–Rayleigh instability. The growth rates of the surface undulation of the fibers are calculated, and higher growth rates are observed at higher annealing temperatures. The sizes of the encapsulated polymer spheres agree well with the theoretical predictions. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2016, 54, 2463–2470