Gas Shield Electrospinning Nozzle System

The Gas Shield Electrospinning Nozzle System effectively delays the evaporation of solvents, which is particularly beneficial for solutions with fast-evaporating solvents. This ensures that the polymer solution does not dry prematurely, leading to a more uniform fiber formation.

Enhanced Fiber Quality: The controlled environment results in consistent and high-quality fibers, maintaining the integrity of the polymer solution throughout the process.

Versatility: Compatible with various gases such as air, nitrogen, or inert gases, the system can be adapted to a wide range of materials and processes.

Improved Process Efficiency: The stable solvent atmosphere reduces the risk of clogging and inconsistencies, leading to smoother operation and less downtime

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gas shield electrospinng nozzle system
gas shield electrospinng nozzle system

How Does It Work?

The Gas Shield Electrospinning Nozzle System directs nitrogen from a nitrogen source into a reactor containing a solvent.

In this reactor, the nitrogen comes into contact with the solvent, exiting the tank as solvent-saturated nitrogen.

The solvent-saturated nitrogen then passes through an airspeed regulator, reaching the specially designed gas shield nozzle within the electrospinning device.

The gas shield nozzle consists of an outlet for the electrospinning solution at the center, surrounded by an exit through which the solvent-saturated nitrogen envelops the solution.

When the electrospinning process begins, the solution reaches the collector in a solvent-saturated nitrogen atmosphere.

This setup is particularly beneficial for solutions prepared with fast-evaporating solvents, as it delays evaporation, allowing the polymer in the solution to reach the collector without premature drying, thus ensuring a more efficient electrospinning process.

Schematic

More Information About Gas Shield Electrospinning From Literature

  • Enhanced production rate:

    Researchers have patented their work with gas-assisted electrospinning such as Daniel et al [1] who form Poly acrylic acid-PAA nanofibers through electrospinning. Furthermore, crosslinked PAA electrospun fiber constructs have been developed for cortical layer of the nerves [2] which shows the effectiveness of these materials for biomedical applications. When compared from traditional electrospinning, the production rate can be increased from 30-50 times while decreasing the diameter of the nanofibers as well as decreasing the dispersity of the size range [3] which shows the scalability potential fulfilling the industrial scale requirements.

 

  • Uniform production without clogging:

    Gas assistance in multi-jet electrospinning helps minimize the mutual jet repulsion effect between different needles, avoiding any additional measures such as additional electrodes, or complex designs. Since the production rate is high, the time of stay at the needle tip for the solution is less and due to pressured air which mechanical pushes and cleans the needle/nozzle tip, clogging is avoided. Also, the high production rate does not affects the features of the produced fibers and produces uniform and localized deposited fibers [4].    

 

  • Solvent saturation via vaporization:

    Solvent evaporation/saturation while electrospinning is a method that can be employed to protect the material from getting reacted to the environment. The gas blown in the chamber using gas shield at a controlled rate can also be helpful in giving specific structures such as porous nanostructures due to delayed evaporation in presence of the same solvent in which the original polymer has been dissolved and being electrospun.

 

Other modes of gas assisted electrospinning include bubble based or pulsed gas electrospinning.  All the methods that have been used in literature pertain to certain application and cater needs to deposit specific polymers at a comparable rate as that of traditional electrospinning.