Four self-made free surface electrospinning devices for high-throughput preparation of quality nanofibers

Four different self-made free surface electrospinning (FSE) devices, namely, modified bubble-electorspinning (MBE) device, modified free surface electorspinning (MFSE) device, oblique section free surface electorspinning (OSFSE) device and spherical section free surface electrospinning (SSFSE) device, were presented to obtain high-throughput preparation of high quality nanofibers in this paper. The preparation mechanisms of these four FSE device were studied by simulating the electric field distribution using Maxwell 3D, due to the importance of electric field in the FSE process. And the effects of them on the morphology and yield of nanofibers were investigated by experiments. The experimental data agreed with the simulation results of electric field, and showed these four FSE device all could be used to prepare high quality nanofibers in large quantities. Meanwhile, comparing the spinning effects of these four FSE device, the results illustrated the SSFSE device was the optimal FSE device because of the highest quality and yield of nanofibers, and its yield could reach 20.03 g/h at the applied voltage of 40 kV.