Pulse gas-assisted multi-needle electrospinning of nanofibers

Multi-needle electrospinning is an effective method to increase the productivity of nanofibers. In this paper, the number of single-needle jets was increased to further improve the production efficiency. As the traditional method for increasing the number of single-needle jets has poor controllability and persistence, we proposed a gas-assisted method to increase the yield of nanofibers. A coaxial gas auxiliary needle was designed with an intermediate shaft supplied gas and the outer shaft supplied solution. Innovatively using pulse gas to produce continuous and stable bubbles which are ruptured on the needle. The liquid film is continuously disturbed, which generates jets in the electric field, thereby increasing the number of jets of a single needle. After optimization of the single-needle gas-assisted electrospinning process, the stable spraying process of 16-pin multi-needle electrospinning has been realized. The gas-assisted electrospinning productivity was 4.7 times higher than that of without gas assistance. It provided a new idea for improving the stable production of the multi-needle electrospinning. Graphical abstract