A constant-current electrospinning system for production of high quality nanofibers

A constant-current electrospinning system has been successfully developed to produce high quality nanofibers. In order to keep at a certain value of the electric current, a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control action was employed, in which the PID parameters were manually tuned. The desired value of electric current was quickly achieved and no overshoot was observed in the system output. The restoration of the electric current due to a disturbance occurred rapidly. Poly (vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) nanofibers have been produced from a precursor solution prepared by dissolution of the PVP powder in a mixture of dimethyl formamide and ethanol using the constant-current electrospinning system. The cone jet shape observed at the end of the needle during the injection of the precursor solution became shorter with increasing electric current. The diameter of the PVP nanofibers was very uniform and reduced with increasing electric current, which is consistent with the model. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics. [DOI: 10.1063/1.2981699]