Open Competition 1 - Chemistry and Materials

Prototype High-Throughput Electrospinning Process and Applications of Electrospun NanoFibers

Sponsor: eSpin Technologies, Inc.

• Project Performance Period: 1/1/2003 - 9/28/2006
• Total project (est.): $2,484,856.00
• Requested ATP funds: $1,996,946.00

Nanofibers -- about 100 times smaller in diameter than typical textile fibers -- have a very high surface area-to-mass ratio, potentially offering performance advantages in fields ranging from tissue engineering to protective clothing to catalyst supports and membranes for chemical processing. Because of high costs and other factors such as health and safety issues, there are currently few efficient and economic processes for making high quality nanofibers at a commercial scale. eSpin Technologies plans a three-year project to design, build, and demonstrate a high-speed machine for low-cost electrospinning of mats made of polymeric nanofibers with diameters 10 to 100 times smaller than today's conventional fibers for industrial, military, consumer, health care, and environmental applications. Electrospinning is a complicated process that merges aspects of polymer science, electrostatics, fluid mechanics, and several subfields of engineering. In electrospinning, a high voltage is applied to a thin tube (capillary) filled with polymer solution, a continuous stream of liquid is ejected, the stream is split into fine jets, and after the solvent evaporates, the resulting fibers are solidified and collected. To transform the existing low-volume process into a method for making sufficiently high volumes of nanofiber materials for commercial development, the key technical challenge is to get a higher mass flow rate of polymer through each capillary jet. Other challenges include managing the electrical charge, component design, solvent evaporation, uniformity of fiber collection, and post processing techniques. Once a suitable process and pilot plant are developed, the company will demonstrate their use to make non-woven sheets with a strength and uniformity suitable for filtration, with the goal of filtering submicron-sized particles -- such as tobacco smoke, viruses, and bacteria -- from air and liquids. Processing, testing, modeling, and characterization support will be provided by the University of Akron (Akron, Ohio), the University of Georgia (Athens, Ga.), and University of Tennessee (Knoxville, Tenn.). The ATP funding will enable eSpin, a start-up company, to develop a lower-cost, higher-volume process than would otherwise be possible. The new technology will provide a platform for many diverse applications in many different fields, offering cost, performance, health, and environmental benefits.

For project information:

Dr. Jayesh Doshi, (423) 267-6266
nanoFiber@aol.com

ATP Project Manager

H. Felix Wu, (301) 975-4685
felix.wu@nist.gov