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Title: Optimizing the Fabrication of Electrospun Nanofibrous Membrane Using Fractional Factorial Design

Conference · · MRS Proceedings
OSTI ID:1874608

Electrospinning, a simple and easily tunable technique that utilizes the force balance between the electrostatic force and the solution surface tension to fabricate membranes out of 1D nanostructured fibers, has garnered much interest especially from the nanotechnology community. Depending on the morphology of the fibers, electrospun membrane has found its way in a wide range of applications, such as oil-water separation, desalination, tissue engineering, and batteries. During an electrospinning process, many factors can affect the morphology of the products, such as viscosity of the solution, voltage supply, discharge distance, feed rate of the solution, and electrospinning time. In this work, we investigated the impacts of the most important parameters on the morphology of electrospun fibrous membrane based on the fractional factorial design. We evaluated the electrospun fibrous membrane morphology using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and capillary flow porometry. Poly (vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) (PVDF-HFP) was chosen for the current study due to its interesting and versatile functionalities including superior hydrophobicity, high free volume, and piezoelectricity. This work provides valuable insight for the fabrication of electrospun membranes, especially for tailoring membrane properties in accordance with any targeted applications.

Research Organization:
Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
DOE Contract Number:
EE0009679
OSTI ID:
1874608
Journal Information:
MRS Proceedings, Conference: 2022 MRS Spring Meeting, Honolulu, HI (United States), 8-13 May 2022; ISSN 1946-4274
Publisher:
Springer Nature
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English