Enhanced Deposition Uniformity via an Auxiliary Electrode in Massive Electrospinning

Dezhi Wu; Zhiming Xiao; Lei Deng; Yu Sun; Qiulin Tan; Linxi Dong; Shaohua Huang; Rui Zhu; Yifang Liu; Wanxi Zheng; Yang Zhao; Lingyun Wang; Daoheng Sun

doi:10.3390/nano6070135

Enhanced Deposition Uniformity via an Auxiliary Electrode in Massive Electrospinning

Nanomaterials (Basel). 2016 Jul 22;6(7):135. doi: 10.3390/nano6070135.

Authors

Dezhi Wu¹, Zhiming Xiao², Lei Deng³, Yu Sun⁴, Qiulin Tan⁵, Linxi Dong^{6

7}, Shaohua Huang⁸, Rui Zhu⁹, Yifang Liu¹⁰, Wanxi Zheng¹¹, Yang Zhao^{10

12}, Lingyun Wang¹³, Daoheng Sun¹⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Aerospace Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China. wdz@xmu.edu.cn.
² School of Aerospace Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China. xiaozhiming@stu.xmu.edu.cn.
³ School of Aerospace Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China. dengl@stu.xmu.edu.cn.
⁴ School of Aerospace Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China. xmusunyu@stu.xmu.edu.cn.
⁵ Science and Technology on Electronic Test and Measurement Laboratory, North University of China, Tai Yuan 030051, China. tanqiulin.99@163.com.
⁶ Key Laboratory of RF Circuits and System of Ministry of Education, Hangzhou Dianzi University, Hangzhou 310018, China. donglinxi@hdu.edu.cn.
⁷ Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. donglinxi@hdu.edu.cn.
⁸ School of Aerospace Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China. zhurui@xmu.edu.cn.
⁹ School of Aerospace Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China. yfliu@xmu.edu.cn.
¹⁰ School of Aerospace Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China. zhaoy@xmu.edu.cn.
¹¹ Changsha Tobacco Monopoly Administration, Changsha 410007, China.
¹² State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China. zhaoy@xmu.edu.cn.
¹³ School of Aerospace Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China. wangly@xmu.edu.cn.
¹⁴ School of Aerospace Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China. sundh@xmu.edu.cn.

Abstract

Uniform deposition of nanofibers in the massive electrospinning process is critical in the industrial applications of nanofibers. Tip-Induced Electrospinning (TIE) is a cost-effective large-scale nanofiber-manufacturing method, but it has poor deposition uniformity. An auxiliary conductive electrode connected to the emitting electrode was introduced to improve the deposition uniformity of the nanofibers. The effects of the auxiliary electrode shape, the tilted angles and the position of the boat-like electrode on the electric field distribution, the diameter of the nanofibers, the jet control and the deposition uniformity were explored by using finite element analysis of the electric field and experiments. Experiments showed that the boat-like electrode at 20 mm above the reservoir bottom with a 5° tilted angle helped to decrease the relative deposition error of nanofibers in the greatest extent to about 5.66%, indicating such an auxiliary electrode is a good candidate method to greatly improve the deposition uniformity of nanofibers in massive electrospinning.

Keywords: auxiliary electrode; deposition uniformity; electrospinning.