Large-Scale and Highly Efficient Production of Ultrafine PVA Fibers by Electro-Centrifugal Spinning for NH3 Adsorption

Youye Ma; Kanghui Cai; Guojie Xu; Yueling Xie; Peng Huang; Jun Zeng; Ziming Zhu; Jie Luo; Huawen Hu; Kai Zhao; Min Chen; Kun Zheng

doi:10.3390/ma16072903

Large-Scale and Highly Efficient Production of Ultrafine PVA Fibers by Electro-Centrifugal Spinning for NH₃ Adsorption

Materials (Basel). 2023 Apr 6;16(7):2903. doi: 10.3390/ma16072903.

Authors

Youye Ma^{1

2}, Kanghui Cai^{1

2

3

4}, Guojie Xu^{3

5}, Yueling Xie^{1

2}, Peng Huang^{1

2}, Jun Zeng^{3

5}, Ziming Zhu^{3

5}, Jie Luo^{1

2}, Huawen Hu^{1

2}, Kai Zhao^{1

2}, Min Chen^{1

2}, Kun Zheng^{6

7}

Affiliations

¹ School of Materials Science and Hydrogen Energy, Foshan University, Foshan 528000, China.
² Guangdong Key Laboratory for Hydrogen Energy Technologies, Foshan University, Foshan 528000, China.
³ China Foshan Nanofiberlabs Co., Ltd., Foshan 528225, China.
⁴ School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Guangxi University, Nanning 530005, China.
⁵ State Key Laboratory of Precision Electronic Manufacturing Technology and Equipment, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China.
⁶ Department of Hydrogen Energy, Faculty of Energy and Fuels, AGH University of Science and Technology, al. A. Mickiewicza 30, 30-059 Krakow, Poland.
⁷ AGH Centre of Energy, AGH University of Science and Technology, ul. Czarnowiejska 36, 30-054 Krakow, Poland.

Abstract

Ultrafine Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fibers have an outstanding potential in various applications, especially in absorbing fields. In this manuscript, an electrostatic-field-assisted centrifugal spinning system was designed to improve the production efficiency of ultrafine PVA fibers from PVA aqueous solution for NH₃ adsorption. It was established that the fiber production efficiency using this self-designed system could be about 1000 times higher over traditional electrospinning system. The produced PVA fibers establish high morphology homogeneity. The impact of processing variables of the constructed spinning system including rotation speed, needle size, liquid feeding rate, and voltage on fiber morphology and diameter was systematically investigated by SEM studies. To acquire homogeneous ultrafine PVA fiber membranes, the orthogonal experiment was also conducted to optimize the spinning process parameters. The impact weight of different studied parameters on the spinning performance was thus provided. The experimental results showed that the morphology of micro/nano-fibers can be well controlled by adjusting the spinning process parameters. Ultrafine PVA fibers with the diameter of 2.55 μm were successfully obtained applying the parameters, including rotation speed (6500 rpm), needle size (0.51 mm), feeding rate (3000 mL h^-1), and voltage (20 kV). Furthermore, the obtained ultrafine PVA fiber mat was demonstrated to be capable of selectively adsorbing NH₃ gas relative to CO₂, thus making it promising for NH₃ storage and other environmental purification applications.

Keywords: electrostatic-field-assisted centrifugal spinning; highly efficient production; orthogonal experiment; polyvinyl alcohol (PVA); ultrafine fiber.

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the Project of Department of Education of Guangdong Province, 2018KQNCX281; Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation, 2019A1515110432; the Key Project of Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation, 2020B1515120081; the Guangdong Provincial Education Department Special Project of Key Research Areas, 2020ZDZX2066; the Free Exploration Foundation of Postgraduates at Foshan University, 2021ZYTS09 and The Guangdong Key Laboratory for Hydrogen Energy Technologies (2018B030322005).