Multi spinnerets electrospinning with assistant sheath gas

A multi nozzle electrospinning spinneret with assistant sheath gas was designed to realize the multi jets injection, by which the production rate of nanofiber can be promoted. The sheath gas around the nozzle decreased the surface charge density, and provided an excess stretching force to increase the motion speed of charged jet. The diameter of charged jet was also decreased by the sheath gas further. On the other hand, the sheath gas also reduced the mutual disturbance among charged jets, by which stable multi jets injection can be gained. The stretching force increased along with air pressure of sheath gas. Then, both of the nanofiber diameter and the critical voltage required for jet injection decreased with the increase of air pressure. With the increase of sheath gas pressure, the uniformity of electrospinning nanofiber can be also improved. As sheath gas pressure increased from 0kPa to 50kPa, the critical voltage required for the jet injection from multi nozzle decreased from 5kV to 0.3kV, meanwhile the averaged diameter of electrospinning nanofiber decreased from 472.80nm to 230.60nm. Multi nozzles electrospinning spinneret with sheath gas provided an excellent way to increase the production speed of nanofiber, and promoted the application of electrospinning technology.