High Production Rate of High Purity, High Fidelity Nafion Nanofibers via Needleless Electrospinning

This study demonstrates the needleless electro-spinning of Nafion nanofibers via foam electrospinning. Compared to needle electrospinning, a 2 orders of magnitude higher production rate (9729 vs 14 mg h(-1) m(-2)) was obtained at similar fidelity (233 +/- 62 vs 216 +/- 69 nm fiber diameters). Additionally, needleless electrospinning produced defect-free high purity Nafion nanofibers (98 wt % Nafion) compared to no fibers (beads) using needle electrospinning at a similar polymer solution concentration. Furthermore, the Young's modulus and proton conductivity of the fiber mats produced by needleless electrospinning (42.6 MPa and 43.8 mS cm(-1), respectively) were higher than those produced by needle electrospinning (20.9 MPa and 18.0 mS cm(-1), respectively). Therefore, high fidelity, high purity Nafion nanofibers at higher production rates with improved mechanical properties and proton conductivity were produced with this needleless electrospinning technique.