Self-organization of jets in electrospinning from free liquid surface: A generalized approach

Abstract

Electrospinning has enabled creation of excellent materials for a great number of applications. Previously, it was based on less productive capillary spinners. The present study is based on recent efforts to elevate electrospinning technology to an industrial level by simultaneously provoking innumerable polymeric jets from a sufficiently large liquid surface to increase productivity. Particularly, it deals with electrospinning from free surface of conductive liquids and validates a formulated hypothesis that explains self-organization of jets on one-dimensional free liquid surfaces in terms of electrohydrodynamic instability of surface waves. Here, it is shown how the hypothesis, based on a profound analysis of a dispersion law, explains that above a certain critical value of applied electric field intensity∕field strength the system starts to be self-organized in mesocopic scale due to the mechanism of the “fastest forming instability.” The mechanism plays a key role in selecting a particular wave with a characteristic wavelength whose amplitude boundlessly grows faster than the others. The fastest growing stationary wave, according to the hypothesis, marks the onset of electrospinning from a free liquid surface with its jets originating from the wave crests. Singularity of this approach lies in predicting critical values of the phenomenon, viz., critical field strength and corresponding critical interjet distance. The critical field strength, will, thereafter, be used in defining a unique dimensionless electrospinning number. It will, subsequently, be shown how the critical interjet distance, i.e., the maximal distance between the neighboring jets, simply depends on the capillary length. The capillary length represents a latent characteristic spatial scale of the system. The theory also predicts interjet distance for field strengths above the critical value. The said prediction is universally applicable for all conductive liquids if it is expressed in terms of the dimensionless parameters of the interjet distance and the electrospinning number. The theory also predicts relaxation time, necessary for spontaneous jetting after a high voltage is applied. The theoretical considerations are eventually compared to that of Zeleny’s, obtained for capillary electrospinner to demonstrate universality of the approach. Eventually, jetting from free liquid surface on specially designed linear cleft electrospinner are observed, analyzed, and compared to the theoretical predictions obtaining satisfactory results.