optimization of electrospinning conditions for the preparation of ethyl cellulose (ec) nanofibers (nf) based on the taguchi method

The preparation of ethylcellulose (ec) nanofibers (nfs) by the electrospinning method was optimized by taguchi design. a taguchi design was performed for electrospinning parameters such as ec concentration, voltage, ethanol/water ratio in the solvent, and feed rate in four levels (array l16).  ec solutions with a certain concentration were prepared in ethanol-water solvents with a certain ratio. the solutions were then stirred at a constant temperature for four hours and left overnight. electrospinning parameters such as temperature 30 ˚c, distance between syringe needle and collector 10 cm, aluminum foil 20 micrometers as collector, collector speed 400 rpm, and electrospinning time 2.5 hours are constant in all electrospinning experiments, but voltage and feed rate were changed according to the experimental design. the resulting ec fibers were imaged by scanning electron microscopy (sem). the sem images of ec fibers were processed by image j software, and the average diameter of ec fibers in each experiment was calculated. the results of the diameter of the electrospun ec fibers showed that all the fibers had a diameter of less than 100 nm. also, the results of the diameter of ec fibers were analyzed based on the analysis of variance, and it was found that the ethanol/water ratio in the solvent (34.9%), the feed rate (23.5%), the voltage (22.1%), and the ec concentration (17.5%), respectively, had the greatest contribution to the diameter of ec fibers. under optimal conditions, ec fibers with a diameter of 41 nm were prepared.