Corona discharge from electrospinning jet of poly(ethylene oxide) solution

Corona discharges from electrospinning jets were observed and photographed at the tip of the Taylor cone, and in a cylindrical region around the jet, a few millimeters below the tip. The corona discharge was also faintly visible to a dark adapted eye. At the position at which the cylindrical corona discharge became apparent, typical conditions were a jet diameter of 30 μm, an applied potential of 12 kV, and a calculated radial electric field of 400 kV/cm, The calculated electric field required to create a corona in air around a metal wire of the same diameter, calculated from Peekʹs empirical formula, was only about 200 kV/cm. The cross sectional shape of some segments of the electrospun fibers had two or three lobes. The lobes often separated, and formed smaller fibers.