Polymer Films with Electrospray Deposition, model and experiment

Electrospray deposited films of poly(vinylidene fluoride) were prepared with various conditions. A model has been developed, which provides the state of the electrosprayed droplet at impact. With a combination of the experimental films and the model calculations, it can be shown that growth rate, the increase of the sprayed solution on the substrate per second, defines the film morphology in electrospray deposition. Growth rate indicates which factors play the main role in the film formation process. The most important factors are liquid flow, surface tension and shear rate. The model can calculate the shear rate and it is shown that PVDF, and most likely polymers in general, has a large range of growth rates, where the morphology only depends on the shear rate of the depositing droplet. This method can also be used to describe electrospray deposition of other compounds.