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. 2022 Feb 16;12(4):665.
doi: 10.3390/nano12040665.

The Potential for the Direct and Alternating Current-Driven Electrospinning of Polyamides

Pavel Holec  1 , Radek Jirkovec  1 , Tomáš Kalous  1 , Ondřej Baťka  2 , Jiří Brožek  3 , Jiří Chvojka  1
Affiliations

The Potential for the Direct and Alternating Current-Driven Electrospinning of Polyamides

Pavel Holec et al. Nanomaterials (Basel). .

Abstract

The paper provides a description of the potential for the direct current- and alternating current-driven electrospinning of various linear aliphatic polyamides (PA). Sets with increasing concentrations of selected PAs were dissolved in a mixture of formic acid and dichloromethane at a weight ratio of 1:1 and spun using a bar electrode applying direct and alternating high voltage. The solubility and spinnability of the polyamides were investigated and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images were acquired of the resulting nanofiber layers. The various defects of the spun fibers and their diameters were detected and subsequently measured. Moreover, the dynamic viscosity and conductivity were also subjected to detailed investigation. The most suitable concentrations for each of the PAs were determined according to previous findings, and the solutions were spun using a NanospiderTM device at the larger scale. The fiber diameters of these samples were also measured. Finally, the surface energy of the fiber layers produced by the NanospiderTM device was measured aimed at selecting a suitable PA for a particular application.

Keywords: alternating current (AC); direct current (DC); electrospinning; nanofibers; nylon; polyamide; polymer solution.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The geometry of the DC electrospinning system (a) and a detail of the corresponding electrostatic field (b). The spinning system for the AC tests applied the same geometry as the DC system but without a collector.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Macroscopic view of the DC electrospinning of PA11 (a) illustrates the increasing distinctness and collateral separation of the spun layers (the scale from the first image applies to all the images). Example of an AC electrospun sample (b)—PA6|6 exhibited a similar spinnability trend to the PA11 spun via DC technology.
Figure 3
Figure 3
SEM images of the DC (a) and AC (b) electrospun PA4|6 nanofibers (the scale from the first image applies to all the images). Increasing numbers of ribbons were observed in the DC electrospun samples, whereas this phenomenon was not observed for the AC electrospun samples.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The dependence of the DC (a) and AC (b) electrospun fiber and ribbon diameters on the concentration of the solution, with the corresponding standard deviations.
Figure 5
Figure 5
The dependence of the viscosity at shear rate of 500 s−1 (a) and conductivity (b) of the PA solutions on their concentrations, with the corresponding standard deviations.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Histograms of the fiber diameters (a) and the corresponding SEM images (b) of the PA fiber layers prepared using the NanospiderTM machine.
Figure 7
Figure 7
The contact angles (a) and surface energies (b) of the PA nanofiber layers produced via the NanospiderTM device.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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