Nanofibers from Scalable Gas Jet Process

A new, simple, and effective method is reported for production of polymer fibers ranging from a few tens of nanometers to a few micrometers from polymer solutions. The method capitalizes on a high velocity expanding gas jet to turn polymer solutions streaming from nozzles into fibers with smooth or wrinkled fiber surface morphology and with core-shell and side-by-side arrangements. The polymer solution is brought in contact with the gas jet on a flat surface, at the tip of a circular needle, and at the surface a pendant drop. The fiber diameter bears relationship with capillary number of the liquid jet and polymer concentration in the solution. Several levels of fiber conglutination are observed as function of collection distance from the nozzle set up.