919
Study of Pulling Effect on the Electrical Conductivity of Suspended Carbon Microfibers Due to Electromechanical Spinning (EMS)

Tuesday, 31 May 2016: 15:00
Aqua 311 B (Hilton San Diego Bayfront)
A. Salazar, M. Bauer, S. Holmberg (University of California Irvine), and M. J. Madou (University of California, Irvine)
Electromechanical Spinning (EMS) of fibers from the negative photoresist SU-8, in combination with photolithography and pyrolysis is used for the fabrication of monolithic carbon devices based on suspended carbon micro/nanofibers. During pyrolysis, the SU-8 fibers experience an elongation due to the shrinkage that the walls undergo in this process. Elongation or stretching of the fibers can be associated with increased graphitization. This is observed as an increased electrical conductivity and Young's modulus in the obtained fibers. Besides pyrolysis, the fibers experience a pulling effect during EMS deposition due to: 1) electrical pulling during jet formation and 2) mechanical pulling from the collecting movable substrate. Few information exists on the effect that the pulling of the polymer jet during EMS has over the final carbon fibers. This work quantifies this effect by observing the change in the carbon fiber's electrical conductivity.