Magnetospinning with an inexpensive magnet

The fridge magnet mentioned in the headline for a May 11, 2015  Nanowerk spotlight aricle by Michael Berger isn’t followed up until the penultimate paragraph but it is worth the wait,

“Our method for spinning of continuous micro- and nanofibers uses a permanent revolving magnet,” Alexander Tokarev, Ph.D., a Research Associate in the Nanostructured Materials Laboratory at the University of Georgia, tells Nanowerk. “This fabrication technique utilizes magnetic forces and hydrodynamic features of stretched threads to produce fine nanofibers.”

“The new method provides excellent control over the fiber diameter and is compatible with a range of polymeric materials and polymer composite materials including biopolymers,” notes Tokarev. “Our research showcases this new technique and demonstrates its advantages to the scientific community.”

Electrospinning is the most popular method to produce nanofibers in labs now. Owing to its simplicity and low costs, a magnetospinning set-up could be installed in any non-specialized laboratory for broader use of magnetospun nanofibers in different methods and technologies. The total cost of a laboratory electrospinning system is above $10,000. In contrast, no special equipment is needed for magnetospinning. It is possible to build a magnetospinning set-up, such as the University of Georgia team utilizes, by just using a $30 rotating motor and a $5 permanent magnet. [emphasis mine]

Berger’s article references a recent paper published by the team,

Magnetospinning of Nano- and Microfibers by Alexander Tokarev, Oleksandr Trotsenko, Ian M. Griffiths, Howard A. Stone, and Sergiy Minko. Advanced Materials First published: 8 May 2015Full publication history DOI: 10.1002/adma.201500374View/save citation

This paper is behind a paywall.

* The headline originally stated that a ‘fridge’ magnet was used. Researcher Alexander Tokarev kindly dropped by correct this misunderstanding on my part and the headline has been changed to read  ‘inexpensive magnet’ on May 14, 2015 at approximately 1400 hundred hours PDT.

2 thoughts on “Magnetospinning with an inexpensive magnet

  1. Alexander Tokarev

    I am the the first author on this publication and I would be happy to answer any questions.
    Indeed, we tried to spin fibers with a fridge magnet and it worked but fridge magnet is not characterized well enough to use it in our theoretical model. That is why we bought a spherical permanent magnet.
    I think reviewers would not appreciate if we would use a fridge magnet in our experiments.
    Please, let me know if you are interested in reading the article and I can e-mail it to you.
    Thanks

    Alex

  2. Maryse de la Giroday Post author

    Dear Dr. Tokarev, Thank you for dropping by and clearing up this misunderstanding. I appreciate the opportunity to make this piece more accurate and reflective of your research. It’s very kind of you to offer a copy of the paper and I wish I could accept. Unfortunately, I suspect it’s far past my understanding of your work. I wish you good luck and I hope to hear more in the future. Perhaps next time, as I continue to build my knowledge base, I will be better able to understand it. Best regards, Maryse

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