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Novel method for preparation of continuously twisted nanofiber yarn based on a combination of stepped airflow electrospinning and friction twisting

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Abstract

Electrospinning nanofiber yarn with large surface area, excellent aligned degree, perfect anisotropy and secondary process-ability has shown good prospects in the application of functional textiles, flexible and wearable electronic devices, tissue engineering, and carbon nanofiber yarn formation. However, the current methods for preparing the electrospinning nanofiber yarn still have the problems of unstable spinning process and poor yarn properties caused by low nanofiber yield and improper twisting, which limits its functional application. In this paper, a novel electrospinning method controlled by stepped airflow field and negative pressure suction is designed to spin continuously twisted nanofiber yarn based on a combination of stepped airflow electrospinning and traditional friction spinning, improving the limitation of low nanofiber yield and poor yarn properties. Our designed method can perfectly match the collection and twisting of large-scale nanofibers with excellent alignment. Furthermore, we demonstrate that this method is suitable for many polymers to continuously spin yarn and that the prepared yarn shows perfect weave-ability. The successful fabrication of nanofiber yarn displays the importance for expanding the application of nanofiber materials.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a Grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21671204), the Natural Science Foundation of Henan (No. 162300410339), and the Program for Science and Technology Innovation Talents in Universities of Henan Province of China (No. 15HASTIT024). The Program for Science and Technology Innovation Teams in Universities of Henan Province of China (No. 16IRTSTHN006), the Innovation Program for Academic Degree Graduate Student in University of Jiangsu Province of China (KYLX16_0797), and Plan for Scientific Innovation Talent of Henan Province are also gratefully acknowledged.

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Correspondence to Hongbo Wang or Jianxin He.

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Zhou, Y., Wang, H., He, J. et al. Novel method for preparation of continuously twisted nanofiber yarn based on a combination of stepped airflow electrospinning and friction twisting. J Mater Sci 53, 15735–15745 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-018-2725-2

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