Chapters authored
Electrohydrodynamic Processes and Their Affecting Parameters
Electrohydrodynamic processes such as electrospinning and electrospraying are simple, flexible, and cost-effective. Both processes use electrically charged jet of polymer solution for the fabrication of micro- or nanofibers and micro- or nanoparticle. Both of these electrodynamic techniques have been receiving increasing attention not only in the scientific community but also in industry. These fibers and particles offer several morphological and functional features that are suitable for tissue engineering in biomedical applications. The main apparatus used for both of these processes is almost the same. Both need electric voltage to induce charge on the droplet, which at optimized electric field leads to micro- or nanofibers and micro- or nanoparticles. Rayleigh in 1882, for the first time, theoretically estimated the maximum amount of charge that a liquid droplet could carry to change in a jet. This theory is now known as the “Rayleigh limit.” He predicted that a droplet on reaching Rayleigh limit would move as fine jets of liquid. More than 100 years later, Rayleigh limit theory was confirmed experimentally. Beside electric field there are other operating and solution parameters that need to be optimized before we obtain a desire product.
Part of the book: Electrospinning and Electrospraying