Effect of electric field intensity on the morphology of magnetic-field-assisted electrospinning PVP nanofibers

Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) nanofibers were processed by magnetic-field-assisted electrospinning (MFAES) technique. Since electric field intensity was one of the most important parameters influencing fiber morphology, the research aimed to study how electric field intensity affects fiber morphology in MFAES technique. The experimental results revealed that the distribution of diameter widened while the average diameter of PVP fibers decreased and the degree of the alignment reduced with the increase of electric field intensity. However, the fibers would be conglutinated together when the electric field intensity was too low. Also, the increase of working distance made the average diameter and the degree of the alignment increase slightly under the same electric field intensity, but the fibers could be partially curved instead of being fully straight if the working distance was too long. It was also indicated that maintaining the electric field intensity at 1 kV/cm with the voltage-distance combinations of 12 kV-12 cm (for 12wt% PVP) and 15 kV-15 cm (for 14wt% PVP) among all other combinations would result in the optimal alignment as well as a narrow size distribution of the fibers.