Impact of Apparatus Orientation and Gravity in Electrospinning—A Review of Empirical Evidence

Abstract

Electrospinning is a versatile fibre fabrication method with applications from textile to tissue engineering. Despite the appearance that the influencing parameters of electrospinning are fully understood, the effect of setup orientation has not been thoroughly investigated. With current burgeoning interest in modified and specialised electrospinning apparatus, it is timely to review the impact of this seldom-considered parameter. Apparatus configuration plays a major role in the morphology of the final product. The primary difference between spinning setups is the degree to which the electrical force and gravitational force contribute. Since gravity is much lower in magnitude when compared with the electrostatic force, it is thought to have no significant effect on the spinning process. But the shape of the Taylor cone, jet trajectory, fibre diameter, fibre diameter distribution, and overall spinning efficiency are all influenced by it. In this review paper, we discuss all these developments and more. Furthermore, because many research groups build their own electrospinning apparatus, it would be prudent to consider this aspect as particular orientations are more suitable for certain applications.

Human Amniotic Membrane: A review on tissue engineering, application, and storage

“…Szentivanyi et al 41 and Suresh et al 42 discussed the effect of several parameters of the electrospinning process on the scaffold's fibers, pore size, and porosity, which are critical to produce scaffolds with characteristics close to ECM. The parameters and properties influencing the scaffold properties can be divided into process parameters (voltage, flow rate, distance), environment parameters (processing temperature, humidity, partial pressure) and solution properties (viscosity, conductivity, surface tension).…”

Fabrication and Characterization of Electrospun Poly(acrylonitrile-co-Methyl Acrylate)/Lignin Nanofibers: Effects of Lignin Type and Total Polymer Concentration

“…We only found non-significant differences in average diameter for three samples: PAN-MA and AL-3, LSL-1 and AL-1, and LSL-2 and AL-2. Additional factors experimentally studied in the literature include electrical conductivity, applied voltage, and surface tension [ 42 ]. Future studies could also correlate additional polymer solution parameters, such as electrical conductivity and surface tension [ 32 ].…”

An Estimate of the Onset of Beadless Character of Electrospun Nanofibers Using Rheological Characterization

“…Yu et al [ 39 ] showed that the opposition of gravitational and electrostatic forces (bottom-up geometry) contributed to suppressing Rayleigh and whipping instabilities. The topic of gravity is discussed in further detail within the review by Suresh et al [ 40 ].…”