Title: Electrospinning PVDF/EC fibre from a binary solvent system

Authors: Tingping Lei; Zhan Zhan; Wenjia Zuo; Wei Cheng; Bulei Xu; Yuanzhe Su; Daoheng Sun

Addresses: Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Xiamen University, Simingnanlu 422#, Xiamen, 361005, Fujian, China. ' Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Xiamen University, Simingnanlu 422#, Xiamen, 361005, Fujian, China. ' Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Xiamen University, Simingnanlu 422#, Xiamen, 361005, Fujian, China. ' Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Xiamen University, Simingnanlu 422#, Xiamen, 361005, Fujian, China. ' Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Xiamen University, Simingnanlu 422#, Xiamen, 361005, Fujian, China. ' Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Xiamen University, Simingnanlu 422#, Xiamen, 361005, Fujian, China. ' Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Xiamen University, Simingnanlu 422#, Xiamen, 361005, Fujian, China

Abstract: The influence of the composition of a binary component solvent on the surface morphology and diameter distribution of poly(vinylidene fluoride)/ethyl cellulose (PVDF/EC) fibres produced by electrospinning technology was investigated. Acetone (56°C) and N-methyl pyrrolidone (NMP) (203°C) binary solvent system was introduced and electrospinning was performed by changing the solution concentration, the applied voltage and the volume ratio of NMP/acetone. The results show that the morphology of PVDF/EC electrospun fibres is greatly influenced by the solution concentration and the volume ratio of NMP/acetone. PVDF/EC fibres prepared from NMP/acetone binary solvent system is much better than that prepared with a single component solvent system, and is very diverse with the volume ratios of the binary solvent system. The morphology of the fibres changed from beads (starting mass ratio of 12 wt% or pure NMP solvent) to full developed fibres as mass ratio increased to 16 wt% with the volume ratio of NMP/acetone (6/4, 5/5, 4/6, 3/7). Beadless fibres were normally obtained within the voltage applied and their average diameter decreased with increasing the applied voltage.

Keywords: electrospinning; polymer fibres; polyvinylidene fluoride; ethyl cellulose; PVDF; binary solvent; surface morphology; diameter distribution; beadless fibres.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNM.2012.048577

International Journal of Nanomanufacturing, 2012 Vol.8 No.4, pp.294 - 305

Received: 13 Oct 2011
Accepted: 12 Jan 2012
Published online: 21 Aug 2014 *

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