Fabricating ultra-thin nanofiber structures towards the advanced MEA of fuel cells: investigation of the degree of alignment, diameter, bead generation, and precision with Taguchi designs

Modified nanofibers with a more aligned and very thin structure are a potential approach owing to their promising properties and enhanced fuel cell performance compared to conventional randomly oriented nanofibers. The strategy to fabricate randomly oriented nanofibers has been widely explored. However, the key factors of oriented fibres, such as the degree of alignment, diameter, bead generation, and precision, have not been investigated in detail. In this work, four specific profiles of nanofibres related to the parameters of the electrospinning system were analysed in more detail for the first time: collector speed, distance, voltage, and nozzle movement. The concentration was set at a constant value of 10% (w/w) of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), which is suitable for the potential application of fabricating membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) for fuel cells. The results indicated that the applied electrical voltage is the most important factor among all the features. Taguchi methods implemented in this work revealed the correlation factors for each specific parameter.