Electrostatic-assisted centrifugal spinning for continuous collection of submicron fibers

Non-uniformity of the fiber diameter and difficulty in continuous web collection have limited the development and further application of centrifugal spinning (CS). Here, we present a feasible method for fibers' continuous collection and morphology optimization by utilizing vertical electrostatic-assisted centrifugal spinning (E-CS). The effects of spinning parameters, such as applied voltage, nozzle size, and rotational speed on fiber morphology have been evaluated systematically. We find that vertical voltage is strongly correlated with the formation of bead defects, and nozzle size is the most important parameter on fiber size, and the fiber diameter generally decreased with increasing rotation speed. Through the mechanism analysis and jet trajectory observation, we think that the Rayleigh–Taylor instability is the key factor in determining fiber formation in CS. When a vertical electrostatic force is applied to CS, the above instability phenomenon can be effectively controlled resulting more uniform fibers with thinner diameters and fewer beads.