Experimental and Numerical Investigation of the Silicon Particle Distribution in Electrospun Nanofibers

Saja Al-Ajrash , Khalid Lafdi (1) , Erick Vasquez , Francisco Chinesta (2) , Philippe Le Coustumer (3)

1 University of Dayton
2 GeM - Institut de Recherche en Génie Civil et Mécanique
3 Ghymac - Géosciences hydrosciences matériaux constructions

The properties of ceramic materials are dependent on crystal size and their distribution. These parameters can be controlled using electrospinning of the two/phase mixed system. The pre/ ceramic solution consists of silicon nano/particles and polyacrylonitrile (PAN) polymer mixture. Particles distribution during the electrospinning technique was characterized using TEM microscopy and modeled using Finite Element Method (FEM). The experimental and numerical results were in agreement. Large silicon particles were located in the skin and the smaller ones were located at the core. This illustrated by the migration rate from the core which was the fastest for large particles and it diminished as the particles become smaller in size. The threshold for Stokes number was found to be around 2.2E-4 with a critical particle size of 1.0E7 m in diameter. The current results are very promising, as it demonstrated a novel way for the fabrication of PAN/Si ceramic nano/fibers with a gradient of particle size and properties from the skin to the core.

Domaines: Mécanique des structures [physics.class-ph]

Saja Al-Ajrash, Khalid Lafdi, Erick Vasquez, Francisco Chinesta, Philippe Le Coustumer. Experimental and Numerical Investigation of the Silicon Particle Distribution in Electrospun Nanofibers. Langmuir, 2018, 34 (24), pp.7147-7152. ⟨10.1021/acs.langmuir.8b01167⟩. ⟨hal-01829949⟩