Electrospinning jet behaviors under the constraints of a sheath gas

Increasing the ejection efficiency and uniformity of nanofibers is the key to applications of electrospinning technology. In this work, a novel electrospinning spinneret with a sheath gas passageway is designed. The frictional resistance that stems from the sheath gas provides additional stretching and restriction forces on the jet. The sheath gas also reduces interference and enhances the stability of the charged jet. A bead-on-strain simulation model is built up to determine the constraint effects of the sheath gas. Simulation results show that the sheath gas decreases the motion area and increases the stretching ratio of the liquid jet. The stretching force from the sheath gas decreases the diameter and increases the uniformity of the nanofiber. As the gas pressure increases from 0 kPa to 50 kPa, the critical voltage of the jet ejection decreases from 8.4 kV to 2.5 kV, the diameter of the nanofiber deposition zone decreases from 40 cm to 10 cm, and the diameter of the nanofibers decreases from 557.97 nm to 277.73 nm. The uniformity of nanofibers can be improved significantly using a sheath gas. The sheath gas contributes to the rapid deposition of a uniform nanofibrous membrane and the industrial applications of electrospinning.