Effect of Solution Miscibility on the Morphology of Coaxial Electrospun Cellulose Acetate Nanofibers

Coaxial electrospinning (co-electrospinning) technique has greatly expanded the universality of fabricating core-shell polymer nanofibers. However, the effect of solution miscibility on the morphology of co-electrospun products remains unclear. Herein, different cellulose acetate (CA) solutions with high solution miscibility but distinctly different electrospinnability were used to survey the effect of solution miscibility on the co-electrospinning process. The structural characterizations show that co-electrospun products are composed of nanofibers with and without the core-shell structure. This indicates that partial solution mixing occurred during the co-electrospinning process instead of absolute no-mixing or complete mixing. Importantly, the solution miscibility also shows a significant influence on the product morphology. In particular, the transformation from nanofibers to microparticles was realized with the increase of core-to-shell flow ratio during the co-electrospinning of core electrosprayable CA/dimethylacetamide (DMAc) solution and shell electrospinnable CA/acetone-DMAc (2/1, v/v) solution. Results show that the solution miscibility exerts a significant effect on not only the formation of core-shell structure but also the product morphology. This work provides a new insight for the in-depth understanding of the co-electrospinning process.

Investigation of the Freezing Phenomenon in Vials Using an Infrared Camera

The freezing phenomenon has a dramatic impact on the quality of freeze-dried products. Several freezing models applied to solutions in vials have been proposed to predict the resulting product morphology and describe heat transfer mechanisms. However, there is a lack of detailed experimental observations of the freezing phenomenon in vials in the literature. Thus, the present work offers new experimental observations of the freezing phenomenon in vials by infrared (IR) thermography. IR imaging allowed each vial’s whole axial temperature profile to be collected during freezing, providing significant insights into the process. Spontaneous nucleation and vacuum-induced surface freezing (VISF), as a controlled nucleation technique, are investigated. Batches having vials in direct contact with the shelf (exchanging heat mainly through conduction) as well as suspended (exchanging heat mainly through natural convection and radiation) were tested. The study used three solutions: sucrose 5%, mannitol 5%, and dextran 10%. SEM images coupled with an automated image segmentation technique were also performed to examine possible correlations between the freezing observations and the resulting pore size distributions. IR thermography was found to be a promising tool for experimentally predicting the resulting product morphology in-line.

Lithium-ion battery recycling technology based on controllable product morphology and excellent performance

Recycling spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) is the most effective way to solve the associated problems of ecological damage and resource depletion. However, the focus of recycling technology is mostly waste...

Silicon: toward eco-friendly reduction techniques for lithium-ion battery applications

This review summarizes the progress on four eco-friendly reduction techniques, including the detailed mechanism, reaction conditions, product morphology and electrochemical performance.