Self‐Assembly‐Driven Electrospinning: The Transition from Fibers to Intact Beaded Morphologies

Abstract

Polymer beads have attracted considerable interest for use in catalysis, drug delivery and photonics due to their particular shape and surface morphology. Electrospinning, typically used for producing nanofibers, can also be used to fabricate polymer beads if the solution has a sufficiently low concentration. In this work, we present a novel approach for producing more uniform, intact beads by electrospinning self-assembled block copolymer (BCP) solutions. This approach allows a relatively high polymer concentration to be used, yet with a low degree of entanglement between polymer chains due to microphase separation of the BCP in a selective solvent system. Herein, to demonstrate the technology, a well-studied polystyrene-poly(ethylene butylene)-polystyrene triblock copolymer has been dissolved in a a Supporting Information is available online from the Wiley Online Library or from the author.-2 -co-solvent system. The effect of solvent composition on the characteristics of the fibers and beads has been intensively studied, and the mechanism of this fiber-to-bead was found to be dependent on microphase separation of the BCP.-3 -

Ternary blend nanofibres of poly(lactic acid), polycaprolactone and cellulose acetate butyrate for skin tissue scaffolds: influence of blend ratio and polycaprolactone molecular mass on miscibility, morphology, crystallinity and thermal properties

“…There are many factors that influence the internal molecular structure and properties of electrospun nanofibres (i.e. flow rate of polymer solution, applied voltage, tip‐to‐collector distance, ambient parameters, polymer solution concentration, polymer molecular mass, viscosity, surface tension and conductivity), which in turn govern the end‐use of the nanofibres . Consequently, the effects of blend ratio and PCL molecular mass (PCL1 and PCL2) on morphology, miscibility, crystallinity, thermal properties, hydrophobicity and cell culture ability of the ternary blend electrospun nanofibres were studied.…”

Rinse-resistant superhydrophobic block copolymer fabrics by electrospinning, electrospraying and thermally-induced self-assembly

“…In our previous study, SEBS was dissolved in neat THF across a concentration range of 8 -20 wt% to produce beads or fibers. [36] Based on this work, a solution of 14 wt% SEBS was selected as an optimum concentration to make fibers. It had been reported that high humidity in addition to high solvent volatility often leads to the formation of pores on electrospun fibers.…”

“…[23,[27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34] Fibers, beads or beaded structures can be electrospun or electrosprayed from polymer solutions with low concentrations or low molecular weight, [35] or via specialized self-assembly driven electrospinning. [36] Both electrospinning and electrospraying operate using the principles of electrohydrodynamics, and are widely applied to fabricate superhydrophobic surfaces. For example, Jiang et al [1] prepared a lotus-leaf-like superhydrophobic surface from a composite film consisting of electrosprayed polystyrene (PS) microspheres (beads) and electrospun nanofibers.…”

In Situ Cross-Linked PNIPAM/Gelatin Nanofibers for Thermo-Responsive Drug Release

“…Apart from electrospinning, the in situ cross-linkable system should also be compatible with other emerging methods to produce polymer nanofibers and nanoparticles, [17] such as centrifugal spinning [18][19][20][21] with scale-up possibilities. [20] In centrifugal spinning, the in situ crosslinkable system will be placed in a rotating spinning head and ejected into a liquid jet from the nozzle tip of the spinning head, when the rotating speed reaches the threshold that the centrifugal force overcomes the surface tension of the spinning fluid.…”