Rivero Pedro J, Fuertes Juan P, Vicente Adrián, Mata Álvaro, Palacio José F, Monteserín María, Rodríguez Rafael
Engineering Department, Public University of Navarre, Campus Arrosadía S/N, 31006 Pamplona, Spain.
Institute for Advanced Materials and Mathematics (INAMAT2), Public University of Navarre, Campus Arrosadía S/N, 31006 Pamplona, Spain.
Polymers (Basel). 2021 Dec 9;13(24):4312. doi: 10.3390/polym13244312.
In this work, a one-step electrospinning technique has been implemented for the design and development of functional surfaces with a desired morphology in terms of wettability and corrosion resistance by using polycaprolactone (PCL) and zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs). The surface morphology has been characterized by confocal microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and water contact angle (WCA), whereas the corrosion resistance has been evaluated by Tafel polarization curves. Strict control over the input operational parameters (applied voltage, feeding rate, distance tip to collector), PCL solution concentration and amount of ZnO NPs have been analyzed in depth by showing their key role in the final surface properties. With this goal in mind, a design of experiment (DoE) has been performed in order to evaluate the optimal coating morphology in terms of fiber diameter, surface roughness (Ra), water contact angle (WCA) and corrosion rate. It has been demonstrated that the solution concentration has a significant effect on the resultant electrospun structure obtained on the collector with the formation of beaded fibers with a higher WCA value in comparison with uniform bead-free fibers (dry polymer deposition or fiber-merging aspect). In addition, the presence of ZnO NPs distributed within the electrospun fibers also plays a key role in corrosion resistance, although it also leads to a decrease in the WCA. Finally, this is the first time that an exhaustive analysis by using DoE has been evaluated for PCL/ZnO electrospun fibers with the aim to optimize the surface morphology with the better performance in terms of corrosion resistance and wettability.
在这项工作中，通过使用聚己内酯（PCL）和氧化锌纳米颗粒（ZnO NPs），采用一步电纺丝技术设计和开发了具有所需润湿性和耐腐蚀性形态的功能表面。通过共聚焦显微镜、扫描电子显微镜（SEM）、原子力显微镜（AFM）和水接触角（WCA）对表面形态进行了表征，而通过塔菲尔极化曲线评估了耐腐蚀性。通过展示它们在最终表面性能中的关键作用，深入分析了对输入操作参数（施加电压、进料速率、尖端到收集器的距离）、PCL溶液浓度和ZnO NPs数量的严格控制。出于这个目的，进行了实验设计（DoE），以评估在纤维直径、表面粗糙度（Ra）、水接触角（WCA）和腐蚀速率方面的最佳涂层形态。结果表明，溶液浓度对在收集器上获得的电纺结构有显著影响，与均匀无珠纤维（干聚合物沉积或纤维合并方面）相比，形成的珠状纤维具有更高的WCA值。此外，分布在电纺纤维中的ZnO NPs的存在在耐腐蚀性方面也起着关键作用，尽管它也会导致WCA降低。最后，这是首次对PCL/ZnO电纺纤维进行详尽的DoE分析，旨在优化表面形态，使其在耐腐蚀性和润湿性方面具有更好的性能。
