Fabrication of nanofibrous mats with uniform thickness and fiber density

Abstract

Because of their unique advantages, non-woven nanofibrous mats are now being widely used in various fields. Accordingly, a variety of fabrication techniques have been proposed for manufacturing these mats. Electrospinning has emerged as one of the most popular methods for fabricating nanofibers. However, the whipping motion of the electrospinning jet of conventional electrospinning imposes a knotty limitation on the geometric control. Thus, when nanofibrous mats are fabricated via electrospinning, geometric uniformity cannot be assured, and this can significantly affect the performance, quality, and reliability of their applications. In this study, a direct-write electrospinning-based fabrication method for nanofibrous mats that provides greater overall thickness and fiber-density uniformity is proposed. Various nanofibrous mats fabricated via the proposed method are presented, and their morphological and mechanical properties are experimentally investigated. The fabricated nanofibrous mats exhibit better thickness and fiber-density uniformity, and their mechanical properties are controllable.