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, a novel approach for producing more uniform, intact beads is presented 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 is dissolved in a co-solvent system. The effect of solvent composition on the characteristics of the fibers and beads is intensively studied, and the mechanism of this fiber-to-bead is found to be dependent on microphase separation of the BCP.

Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/marc.201500149
Divisions: College of Engineering & Physical Sciences > School of Infrastructure and Sustainable Engineering > Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry
Additional Information: This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Wang, L., Topham, P. D., Mykhaylyk, O. O., Yu, H., Ryan, A. J., Fairclough, J. P. A., & Bras, W. (2015). Self-assembly-driven electrospinning: the transition from fibers to intact beaded morphologies. Macromolecular Rapid Communications, Early view, which has been published in final form at 10.1002/marc.201500149. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving. Funding: Royal Academy of Engineering for funding a Research Exchange project; Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 2013ZZ0004); and South China University of Technology (No. K412001III). Supporting Information is available from the Wiley Online Library or from the author.
Uncontrolled Keywords: beads,block copolymers,electrospinning,microphase separation,self-assembly,Organic Chemistry,Materials Chemistry,Polymers and Plastics
Publication ISSN: 1022-1336
Last Modified: 27 Feb 2024 08:10
Date Deposited: 16 Jun 2015 13:55
Full Text Link:
Related URLs: http://www.scop ... tnerID=8YFLogxK (Scopus URL)
http://onlineli ... 500149/abstract (Publisher URL)
PURE Output Type: Article
Published Date: 2015-08-01
Published Online Date: 2015-06-02
Authors: Wang, Linge
Topham, Paul D. (ORCID Profile 0000-0003-4152-6976)
Mykhaylyk, Oleksandr O.
Yu, Hao
Ryan, Anthony J.
Fairclough, J. Patrick A.
Bras, Wim

Download

[img]

Version: Accepted Version


Export / Share Citation


Statistics

Additional statistics for this record