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

Four different self-made free surface electrospinning (FSE) techniques, namely, modified bubble-electrospinning (MBE), modified free surface electrospinning (MFSE), oblique section free surface electrospinning (OSFSE) and spherical section free surface electrospinning (SSFSE), designed for high-throughput preparation of high-quality nanofibers, are presented in this paper. The mechanisms of fiber preparation of the corresponding four FSE devices were studied by simulating the electric field distribution using the Maxwell 3D software. The properties of the electric field in the device are very important for the FSE process. The effects of the particular technique on the morphology and the yield of nanofibers were experimentally investigated. The experimental data agree well with the results of the simulations and show that all four FSE devices can be used to prepare large quantities of high-quality nanofibers. A comparison of the spinning mechanisms of these four FSE devices illustrates that the SSFSE device performs best, providing the highest quality and yield of nanofibers. The SSFE device could yield 20.03 g/h of nanofibers at an applied voltage of 40 kV.