Heated solution electrospinning
AssigneeUniversity of Oregon
InventorsPaul D. Dalton, Ievgenii Liashenko
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Certain aspects of the disclosure concern a device including a nozzle configured to receive a heated polymer solution from a reservoir and a power supply configured to generate an electrostatic field between a tip portion of the nozzle and a substrate so as to draw a charged jet of the heated polymer solution out of the tip portion of the nozzle toward a substrate situated at an operating distance from the tip portion of the nozzle and form a polymer fiber on the substrate. The heated polymer solution is at an operating temperature that is greater than or equal to 40° C.
Claims20
A device comprising:
- a nozzle configured to receive a heated polymer solution from a reservoir;
- and
- a power supply configured to generate an electrostatic field between a tip portion of the nozzle and a substrate so as to draw a charged jet of the heated polymer solution out of the tip portion of the nozzle toward a substrate situated at an operating distance from the tip portion of the nozzle and form a polymer fiber on the substrate,
- wherein the heated polymer solution is at an operating temperature that is greater than or equal to 40° C.,
- wherein the nozzle is one of a plurality of nozzles configured to receive the heated polymer solution which is electrospun into charged jets escaping from the plurality of nozzles to form respective polymer fibers on the substrate, wherein a distance between two adjacent nozzles is between 50% and 250%, inclusive, of the operating distance.
A method comprising:
- heating a polymer solution to an operating temperature that is greater than or equal to 40° C.;
- electrospinning the polymer solution as a charged jet escaping from a nozzle;
- and
- collecting a polymer fiber on a substrate situated at an operating distance from a tip portion of the nozzle,
- wherein the polymer solution comprising a polymer dissolved in a solvent at the operating temperature,
- wherein the polymer fiber is formed from the charged jet after evaporation of at least some of the solvent,
- wherein the nozzle is one of a plurality of nozzles configured to receive the heated polymer solution which is electrospun into charged jets escaping from the plurality of nozzles to form respective polymer fibers on the substrate, wherein a distance between two adjacent nozzles is between 50% and 250%, inclusive, of the operating distance.
A method comprising:
- preparing a polymer solution comprising polycaprolactone dissolved in dimethylformamide;
- heating the polymer solution to an operating temperature that is between 40° C. and 100° C., inclusive;
- feeding the polymer solution to a nozzle;
- applying an electrostatic field between a tip portion of the nozzle and a substrate spaced apart from the tip portion of the nozzle by an operating distance, wherein the electrostatic field is configured to draw a charged jet of the polymer solution out of the tip portion of the nozzle toward the substrate;
- and
- collecting a fiber on the substrate, wherein the fiber is formed from the charged jet after evaporation of at least some of the dimethylformamide,
- wherein the nozzle is one of a plurality of nozzles configured to receive the heated polymer solution which is electrospun into charged jets escaping from the plurality of nozzles to form respective polymer fibers on the substrate, wherein a distance between two adjacent nozzles is between 50% and 250%, inclusive, of the operating distance.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.