Yu-Jing Chiu

Rayleigh-instability-driven morphology transformation of electrospun polymer fibers imaged by in situ optical microscopy and stimulated Raman scattering microscopy

Electrospinning is one of the most common methods to prepare polymer fibers with sizes ranging from several nanometers to hundreds of micrometers. In most studies of electrospun polymer fibers, the properties and morphologies of polymer fibers are controlled by changing the electrospinning conditions. Few studies focus on the post-treatments of polymer fibers, which are critical for many fiber-based applications. In this work, we investigate the morphology transformation of electrospun polystyrene (PS) fibers annealed on top of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) film-coated glass substrates. In situ optical microscopy and stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscopy are used to observe the transformation process, which is driven by the Rayleigh instability, the surface tensions, and the interfacial tensions of polymers. Depending on the thickness of the underlying PMMA films, the electrospun PS fibers may transform into hemispheres or disks. The growth rates of the undulating amplitude are also affected by the film thickness.

Plateau–Rayleigh Instability Morphology Evolution (PRIME): From Electrospun Core–Shell Polymer Fibers to Polymer Microbowls

Electrospun core-shell fibers have great potentials in many areas, such as tissue engineering, drug delivery, and organic solar cells. Although many core-shell fibers have been prepared and studied, the morphology transformation of core-shell fibers have been rarely studied. In this work, the morphology evolution of electrospun core-shell polymer fibers driven by the Plateau-Rayleigh instability is investigated. Polystyrene/poly(methyl methacrylate) (PS/PMMA) core-shell fibers are first prepared by using blend solutions and a single axial electrospinning setup. After PS/PMMA core-shell fibers are annealed on a PS film, the fibers undulate and sink into the polymer film, forming core-shell hemispheres. The evolution process, which can be observed in situ by optical microscopy, is mainly driven by achieving lower surface and interfacial energies. The morphologies of the transformed structures can be confirmed by a selective removal technique, and polymer microbowls can be obtained.

Fabrication of Electrospun Polymer Fibers with Nonspherical Cross-Sections Using a Nanopressing Technique.

The fabrication of electrospun polymer fibers is demonstrated with anisotropic cross-sections by applying a simple pressing method. Electrospun polystyrene or poly(methyl methacrylate) fibers are pressed by flat or patterned substrates while the samples are annealed at elevated temperatures. The shapes and morphologies of the pressed polymer fibers are controlled by the experimental conditions such as the pressing force, the pressing temperature, the pressing time, and the surface pattern of the substrate. At the same pressing force, the shape changes of the polymer fibers can be controlled by the pressing time. For shorter pressing times, the deformation process is dominated by the effect of pressing and fibers with barrel-shaped cross-sections can be generated. For longer pressing times, the effect of wetting becomes more important and fibers with dumbbell-shaped cross-sections can be obtained. Hierarchical polymer fibers with nanorods are fabricated by pressing the fibers with porous anodic aluminum oxide templates.

Fabrication and Thermal Insulation Properties of Bamboo-Shaped Polymer Fibers by Selective Solvent Vapor Annealing

Fibrillar materials have gained much attention recently because of their unique properties and potential applications. Although many methods have been developed to fabricate materials, it remains challenging to prepare fibrillar materials containing multicomponent materials or even with complex structures. Here, a facile strategy is developed to fabricate bamboo-shaped fibers by treating electrospun polymer core-shell fibers with solvent vapor annealing. Electrospun polystyrene (PS)/poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) core-shell fibers are first prepared by electrospinning PS/PMMA blend solutions via a phase separation process. When the PS/PMMA core-shell fibers are annealed with the vapor of cyclohexane, which swells and delocalizes the PS domains selectively, the fibers transform into bamboo-shaped structures. The bamboo-shaped structures can be further examined by swelling and delocalizing the PMMA domains selectively, revealing the undulated PS structures. The thermal insulation properties of the fibers with bamboo-shaped structures are observed to be enhanced compared with the original polymer core-shell fibers.

Solvent-Induced Shape Recovery of Anisotropic Polymer Particles Prepared by a Modified Thermal Stretching Method

Anisotropic polymer particles have attracted great attention because of their unique properties and potential applications in various areas, such as microelectronics, drug delivery, and medical imaging. The fabrication and morphology control, especially the shape recovery, of anisotropic polymer particles, however, remains a challenging task. In this work, we develop a novel strategy to fabricate anisotropic polymer particles by thermally stretching poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) films embedding polystyrene (PS) microspheres using a weight. Depending on the preannealing condition, anisotropic PS particles with two different shapes, sharp-headed and blunt-headed PS particles, can be obtained. The PVA films can be selectively removed by isopropanol/water, releasing the anisotropic PS particles. By adding tetrahydrofuran (THF), a good solvent for PS, into the PS particle-containing solutions, the anisotropic particles gradually transform back to spheres to reduce the total interfacial energies. The shape recovery rates of the polymer particles can be controlled by the amount of the added THF. This work not only provides a simple and feasible route to fabricate anisotropic polymer particles but also contributes to a deeper understanding in the solvent-induced shape recovery process from anisotropic polymer particles to polymer spheres.

Thermal-Annealing-Induced Self-Stretching: Fabrication of Anisotropic Polymer Particles on Polymer Films

Designing anisotropic particles of various shapes draws great attention to scientists nowadays. We develop a facile and simple method to fabricate anisotropic polymer particles from spherical polymer particles. Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) films spin-coated with polystyrene (PS) microspheres are confined on both sides using binder clips and are heated above the glass-transition temperatures of the polymers. During the thermal annealing process, the PS particles sink into the PVA films and transform to anisotropic particles. Depending on the distances to the bound regions, oblate spheroid PS particles or prolate spheroid particles with different aspect ratios can be obtained. The transformation of the particles is mainly driven by the stretching forces and the squeezing forces. The main advantage of this method is that anisotropic particles with different shapes can be fabricated simultaneously on a single film. We expect that this novel method can be helpful to various fields including colloids science, suspension rheology, and drug delivery.