Controlled deposition of electrospinning jet by electric field distribution from an insulating material surrounding the barrel of the polymer solution

The control of fiber deposition in electrospinning, a technological bottleneck, has received a wide attention. This paper describes the use of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) insulating tubes to modify the electric field distribution and to produce a more uniform and concentrated electric field. The electric field distribution modified by the PVC tube plays an important role in controlling the swinging straight part of the jet and the spiral angle of the bending process. The fiber morphology was affected by the polarity of the applied voltage and finer fibers were produced by negative voltages than by positive voltage due to the ability of the charges caught and kept on the insulating material. Fibers without beads were produced in an 18 mm diameter area using a 7 cm diameter, 15 cm long PVC tube with 17.5 kV applied to the needle, 30 cm from the collector. The production rate was 13.89 g/h.[m.sup.2]. Index Terms--Electrospinning, nanofiber, insulator, electric field distribution.