The Electrospinning Process
The electrospinning technology is one of the most versatile and relevant non-mechanical, electrostatic processes to produce nano-scale meshes. The technology has a wide range of application areas from tissue engineering such as wound dressings, nerve tiss
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The Electrospinning Process Enes Aslan, Henrique Almeida, Salem Al-Deyab, Mohamed El-Newehy, Helena Bartolo, and Paulo Jorge Bártolo
7.1 Introduction Electrospinning or electrostatic spinning is one of the most versatile and relevant non-mechanical, electrostatic processes to produce nano-scale meshes. Usually, it involves ejecting a polymer solution (solution electrospinning) or melt (melt electrospinning) from a syringe needle tip, by applying a high electric field [1–3]. A typical electrospinning setup is composed of three basic elements (Figs. 7.1, 7.2, and 7.3): a high voltage power supply (DC or AC), a capillary (including a material container and a spinneret) and a grounded metal collector. One electrode of the high voltage power supply is connected with the spinneret and the other is attached to the collector, which is usually grounded. A large electrical potential is then applied between the syringe tip and the conductive-grounded collector. When the applied electric field overcomes the surface tension of the material, a charged jet is ejected. The route of the charged jet is controlled by the electric field. Once formed, the jet is accelerated and stretched and may experience different instabilities [5–7]. The electrospinning technology is closely related to the electrospraying technology, in which electrostatic forces are used to control the formation of the droplets (Fig. 7.4) [5–7].
E. Aslan · P. J. Bártolo () School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] H. Almeida · H. Bartolo School of Technology and Management, Polytechnic Institute of Leiria, Leiria, Portugal e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] S. Al-Deyab · M. El-Newehy College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 B. Bidanda, P. J. Bártolo (eds.), Virtual Prototyping & Bio Manufacturing in Medical Applications, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35880-8_7
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Fig. 7.1 Schematic representation of the electrospinning setup
Fig. 7.2 Possible geometries of the electrospinning spinneret. (a) Single needle; (b) Multi needle (linear arrangement); (c) Multi needle (circular arrangement); (d) Co-axial; (d) Tri-axial. Adapted from [4]
Contrary to conventional fibre spinning techniques (wet spinning, dry spinning, gel spinning), which are capable of producing polymer fibres with diameters down
7 The Electrospinning Process
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Fig. 7.3 Possible geometries of the electrospinning collectors. (a) Flat plate; (b) Parallel plates/stripes; (c) Rotating drum (d) Rotating disc (flat edge); (e) Rotating disc (sharp edge); (f) Conveyor. Adapted from [4] Fig. 7.4 Example of an electrosprayed surface (Scale bar: 5 µm) [6]
to the micrometer region, electrospinning is a process capable of producing polymer fibres in the nanometer diameter region [7, 8]. The routes of electro
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