Comparison of Bubble Electrospinning and Needle Electrospinning of Ethylcellulose Ultrafine fibres

摘要

Ethylcellulose (EC) is a biocompatible cellulosic derivative widely used in the drug industry. In the present work, EC nanofibres were electrospunusingethanol: toluene (40:60-by wt.) mixture system by both single needle electrospinning (SNE) and bubble electrospinning (BE) methods. Comparisons of the effect of the various process parameters such as needle/solution surface to collector distance, app. volt. and feed rate on fibre characteristics were studied. The optimum SNE feed rate comparable to BE was decided 1.5 ml/hrafter comparing fibre diameter. Comparisons of these parameters revealed that fibre morphologies follows different trends in SNE and BE. Average (Avg.) fibre diameters increased with increase in feed rate in SNE. As needle to collector distance (NTCD) increased, theavg, fibre diameter decreased in SNE. However, in BE, fibre diameter increased with increase in solution surface to collector distance (STCD). Fibre diameter decreased in SNE with increase in app. volt. However, in BE; initially the fibre diameter decreased and then increased with increase in app. volt. These different trends in diameter of BE and SNE electrospun fibres are explained and discussed in the present article.