Three-jet electrospinning using a flat spinneret

Electrospinning is a simple but highly versatile technology to produce nanofibers from solutions or melts mostly of polymers using electrostatic forces. A primary challenge facing electrospinning is its low productivity mainly limited by flow rate. In this work, a custom-made three-hole spinneret instead of conventional needles was adopted to enhance the flow rate of electrospinning. Three-jet formation, nanofiber deposition, nanofiber morphology and size were characterized by digital camera and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) as the effects of several governing parameters in electrospinning, including applied voltage from 19.8 to 21.0 kV, working distance from 15.2 to 16.8 cm and flow rate from 6.0 to 9.0 mL/h. It was found that three simultaneous stable jets were ejected from the three-hole spinneret under suitable operating conditions. Moreover, it was found that the fibers collected from the jets from each hole deposited separately in circular spots on a stationary collector. The resultant fibers mostly have an average diameter of less than 300 nm. It has been proved that simple holes on a flat surface can be used to electrospin nanofibers. The three-hole spinneret produces nanofibers at flow rates greater than that in single needle electrospinning. Flow rate has the potential to be easily scaled up by increasing the spinneret diameter and the number of holes. © 2009 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.