Electrospinning (ES) provides the technical community with a readily available method to produce polymer fibers ranging from nanoscale to microscale. Here, we present a novel “hybrid electrospirming apparatus,” whereby, modifications to a melt electrospinner have allowed fabrication of core-sheath fibers with polymer sheaths and solution-based cores. These modifications include a split polymer melt heating block, coaxial block spinneret equipped with heaters and multiple feed ports for core and sheath material, and a wiring system for heat which requires multiple switches for safety and on-demand heat activation. Successful demonstration of coaxial fiber fabrication is demonstrated using polycaprolactone-polyethylene oxide blend shell and fluorescent gelatin core materials.

A method and an apparatus for fabricating nanofibrous articles is disclosed. The method may include providing a double-walled nozzle with an inner tube coaxially disposed within an outer tube. In addition, the double-walled nozzle is secured in front of a collector and an electrical field is applied between a tip of the double-walled nozzle and the collector. The method further includes preparing a spinning solution by dissolving a polymer in a solvent, mixing a vapor stream of the solvent with a stream of a pressurized gas with a predetermined ratio to obtain a pressurized solvent/gas stream feeding the spinning solution through the inner tube of the double-walled nozzle, and concurrently feeding the pressurized solvent/gas stream through the outer tube of the double-walled nozzle. The spinning solution and the pressurized solvent/gas stream may concurrently be discharged from the double-walled nozzle and drawn toward the collector being collected as nanofibrous articles on the collector.

The present disclosure relates to a nozzle block applied to an electrospinning device, which includes a radiation nozzle having a hollow radiation needle for discharging a spinning solution to the outside; a means of piercing having a diameter smaller than that of the radiation needle, at least one of which is coaxially disposed inside the radiation needle; and a reciprocating mechanism for reciprocating the means of piercing and the radiation needle relative to each other, thereby preventing the solution from being solidified at the tip of the radiation nozzle or the radiation nozzle from being blocked by external contaminants even if the electrospinning process is temporarily interrupted in the middle.

A portable, hand-held electrospinning or electrospraying apparatus and system, method, and portions thereof, comprised of a durable portion of the hand-held apparatus and a consumable portion of the hand-held apparatus. The consumable portion of the hand-held apparatus, which may contain the solution to be output in electrospin or electrospray fashion, may be replaced in whole or in part to provide additional or alternative solution. A base station may be provided, and can output high voltage and communication signals to the hand-held apparatus to enable the electrospin or electrospray operation by the hand-held apparatus.

A sheet of substrate (7) travels along a first path in a first direction between a first collecting electrode (1) and a second spinning wire electrode (2); and the second spinning wire electrode (2) travels in a second direction (10) approximately perpendicular to the first direction at an approximately constant operational distance to the sheet of substrate (7). One or more secondary guiding means (4) guide the second spinning wire electrode (2) in a third direction at least partly parallel to the first direction i.e. parallel to the traveling direction of the sheet of substrate, and tertiary guiding means (5) guide the second spinning wire electrode (2) in a fourth direction (11) approximately perpendicular to the first direction and parallel but opposite the second direction (10) at a constant operational distance to the sheet of substrate (7).

According to an embodiment, an electrospinning apparatus includes: a transport roll; and a head unit. The transport roll is a roll that transports a substrate. The transport has a transport surface that is in contact with the substrate when transporting the substrate. The transport surface of the transport roll has a surface roughness Ra of 1.6 or less. The head unit ejects a raw material liquid of fiber toward the substrate transported by the transport roll to form a film of the fiber on the substrate.

The invention concerns a composition to be electrospun comprising a first compound to be electrospun, an electrospinning promoter and at least one active ingredient, as well as a method to prepare it. This composition allows to obtain electrospun nanometric fibers with good structural and absorption properties.

The invention concerns a method to electrospin a composition to be electrospun, which comprises a compound to be electrospun and an electrospinning promoter. The method provides the steps of providing an electrospinning device comprising an electrospinning head and a collector; applying an electric field between the electrospinning head and the collector; and feeding the composition to be electrospun through the electrospinning head.

The electrospinning method comprises the steps of providing a composition to be electrospun; providing an electrospinning device comprising an electrospinning head and a collector; applying an electric field between the electrospinning head and the collector; and feeding the composition to be electrospun through the electrospinning head, so that the electric field applied induces the formation of an electrospun fiber.

Membranes suitable for use in membrane distillation are provided. Such membranes may include nano-fibrous layers with adjustable pore sizes. The membranes may include a hydrophobic nanofibrous scaffold and a thin hydrophilic protecting layer that can significantly reduce fouling and scaling problems.