Investigation of Parameters Affecting the Productivity of Electrospun Polyacrylonitrile Nanofibers

Electrospinning is a straightforward method that relies on electrostatic forces to produce nanofibers from polymer solutions or melts. In this research, in keeping the fibers diameters constant, it was tried to find parameters that increase the mass production rate of nanofibers without any change in fibers diameters. In order to investigate the productivity, Taylor's equation for prediction of critical voltage in electrospinning, was considered. In this study, a solution of 15 wt% concentration of PAN/DMF was used to electrospin the nanofibers. By increasing voltage from 10 kV to 20 kV, the productivity of electrospun nanofibers was increased up to 600% and the average fibers diameters decreased gradually from 380 nm to 315 nm. But by increasing voltage, a broader distribution of the diameters was obtained. Keeping the syringe needle length constant at 2.5 cm, by decreasing the diameter of syringe needle