Abstract
In the present contribution, it has been reported about the effect of solvent, solvent concentration, flow rate and applied voltage on the fabrication of electrospun polycarbonate (PC) nanofibers. The morphology of fibers was studied by optical and scanning electron microscope. It is observed that morphology of fibers depends upon the concentration of PC or viscosity of the solution, vapor pressure and diffusion coefficient of solvent. In fact, when viscosity of the solution is very low, beads or droplets are formed instead of fibers. The same problem arises when the viscosity of the solution is too high due to high surface tension. In this case, jet formation will not be observed and the solution will coagulate at the tip of needle. Tetrahydrofuran (THF) easily diffuses with polymer, at higher concentration of PC and at higher flow rate of solution; fibers of micron size are formed because of high vapor pressure of THF. On the other hand, in case of mixed solvents (DMF and THF), by controlling processing parameters one can get fiber diameter up to 200 nm. The study of Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) indicates that less amount of heat energy is absorbed during endothermic reaction and there is a slight increase in glass transition temperature of nanofibers. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) shows an increase in thermal stability of PC nanofibers by 40ºC as compared to PC granules. This is due to the alignment of PC polymeric chains during stretching and whipping that occurs while electro spinning process.
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