Morphology Characterization of Electrospun Polystyrene Membranes

Abstract

The concentration of the polymer solution is one of the most important factors in the formation of fibers in electrospinning technology. Different polymer concentrations of thermoplastic polystyrene are used in this study. At the same time, the other operating parameters of the electrospinning process (such as flow rate, voltage, distance between capillary and collector), the solution parameters (such as conductivity and molecular weight of the solution) and the environmental conditions (such as temperature and humidity) were kept constant. Field emission scanning electron microscopy was used to investigate the morphological changes on the surface of the fibers and to determine the typical fiber diameter. It was found that as the polystyrene concentration was increased from 15% to 30%, the average pore size increased from (0.5µm and 0.44µm) to (2.7µm and 2.6µm). The FT-IR showed the main chemical bonds in the polystyrene membranes and the change in peak intensity by increasing the polymer concentration. The contact angle measurements, which are used to investigate the change in hydrophobic properties, show that the hydrophobicity of the membranes decreases as the water contact angle decreases from 135 to 116 when the polymer concentration is increased from 15% to 30%.