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We present an experimental visualization study of centrifugal spinning, which is a novel method of producing nanofibers. The investigation was conducted using Newtonian and viscoelastic fluids to study the effect of viscoelasticity, driving force, and the flow rate on the initial thinning behavior, jet contour shapes, and radii. Boger fluids based on Newtonian polybutene and viscoelastic polyisobutylene were utilized as test fluids in the current study. Our results reveal that increasing the viscoelasticity leads to a faster initial thinning of the polymer jet. However, the effect is strongly coupled with the rotation speed, and due to a faster increase in extensional viscosity for highly viscoelastic fluids, the thinning slows down with the increase in the angular velocity. Initial thinning is shown to be faster for the lower flow rates. Viscoelasticity and centrifugal force have a significant influence on the jet contour radii. The maximum radius will decrease for more viscoelastic fluids, and with the increase in angular velocity due to the development of the elastic hoop stress. The comparison of experiments with the discretized element modeling with the FENE-P model confirms the model predictive potential for the thinning behavior. Finally, the centrifugal spinning experiments are compared to electrospinning in order to observe a qualitative similarity.

Batteries for high-rate applications such as electric vehicles need to be efficient at mobilizing charges (both electrons and ions). To this end, choice of the conductive carbon in the electrode can make a significant difference in the performance of the electrode. In this work, graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) are explored as conductive pathways for a silicon-based anode. Water-based electrospinning is employed to directly deposit poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)−silicon−graphene nanoribbon composite fibers on a copper current collector. The size of the employed GNRs dictates their placement: either inside each fiber (small GNRs) or as a bridge between multiple fibers (large GNRs). Galvanostatic charge/discharge cycles reveal that fibers with GNRs have higher capacity and overall retention compared to those with corresponding precursor carbon nanotubes (CNTs). To further distinguish the effectiveness of GNRs as the conductive agent, samples with two GNRs and their parent CNTs were subject to rate-capability tests. Fibers with large GNR inclusions exhibit an excellent performance at fast rates (1400 mAh g −1 at 12.6 A g −1 ). For both pairs, enhancement in the performance of GNRs over CNTs grows with increasing rates. Finally, a small amount of large GNRs (1 wt %) is blended with small GNRs in the fibers to create synergy between intra-and interconductivity provided by small and large GNRs, respectively. The resulting fiber mat exhibits the same capacity as that of only small GNRs, even at a current rate that is 4 times higher (300 mAh g −1 at 21 A g −1 ).

In this paper, we provide a theoretical investigation of axisymmetric instabilities observed during electrospinning, which lead to beads-on-a-string morphology. We used a discretized method to model the instability phenomena observed in the jet. We considered the fluid to be analogous to a bead-spring model. The motion of these beads is governed by the electrical, viscoelastic, surface tension, aerodynamic drag, and gravitational forces. The bead is perturbed at the nozzle, and the growth of the instability is observed over time, and along the length of the jet. We considered both lower electrical conducting polyisobutylene (PIB)-based Boger fluids and highly electrical conducting, polyethylene oxide (PEO)/water systems. In PIB fluids, the onset of the axisymmetric instability is predominantly based on the capillary mode, and the growth rate of the instability is decreased with the viscoelasticity of the jet. However, in the PEO/water system, the instability is electrically driven, and a significant increase in the growth rate of the instability is observed with the increase in the voltage. Our predictions from the discretized model are in good agreement with the previous linear stability analysis and experimental results. Our results also revealed the non-stationary behavior of the disturbance, where the amplitude of the perturbation is observed to be oscillating. Furthermore, we showed that the discretized model is also used to observe the non-axisymmetric behavior of the jet, which can be further used to study the bending instability in electrospinning.

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