Polymer Engineering and Science, Vol.45, No.8, 1073-1080, 2005
Electrospinning of methacrylate-based copolymers: Effects of solution concentration and applied electrical potential on morphological appearance of as-spun fibers
Three methacrylate-based copolymers [i.e., poly(methacrylic acid-co-methyl methacrylate), poly(ethylacrylate-co-methyl methacrylate-co-trimethyl-ammonioethyl methacrylate chloride), and poly(butyl methacrylate-co-(2-dimethylaminoethyl) methacrylate-co-methyl methacrylate)] were successfully electrospun into fibers using ethanol as the solvent. For a given applied electrical potential, increasing the concentration of the spinning solutions caused the morphology of the as-spun products to change from discrete droplets to a combination of beaded and smooth fibers and finally to completely smooth fibers. For a given spinning solution having a low concentration, increasing the applied electrical potential increased the electro-spinnability of the spinning solution. The average diameters for all of the as-spun fibers were found to range between about 0.2 and 5.5 mu m. Generally, for a given applied potential, the average fiber diameter increased with increasing concentration of the spinning solutions, and for a given solution concentration the average fiber diameter increased with increasing applied electrical potential.