Crater-Like Electrospinning of PVA Nanofibers, Part 2, Minimizing the Diameter of Nanofibers Using Response Surface Methodology

Response surface methodology (RSM) was used to investigate the diameter of nanofibers using the Box- Benkhen experimental design (BBD) technique in the crater-like electrospinning. The three main electrospinning factors, i.e., the applied voltage, the spinning distance and the air pressure, were utilized to design the experiments. The results showed that the most significant factor was the air pressure. A model was established to determine the optimal experimental levels of different factors to minimize the average diameter of the nanofibers. The model predicted a minimal diameter of 60.64 nm for the case of 26.29 kV of the applied voltage, 8.74 cm of the spinning distance, and 10 kPa of the air pressure, while the observational one was 62.2 nm, the accuracy of 2.6% showed that the model was reliable.