Nanofibers are utilized for several applications, including separation membranes and tissue engineering, where the high ratio of surface area per mass allows novel interfacial properties to be leveraged on the macroscopic scale. Electrospinning is a versatile technique, where a polymer is stretched using an electric field through a Taylor cone to deposit a non-woven nanofiber mats onto a grounded collector. Many factors contribute to how well the fibers are spun, including the concentration of the solution and the volatility of the solvent. This study investigated the presence of mechanical degradation of polystyrene (PS) that directly results from the large extensional flow during processing. Processing parameters, including polymer concentration and solvent [dimethylacetamide (DMAc) and dimethylformamide (DMF)], are varied to examine changes in the performance of the electrospun nanofibers by characterizing the molecular-weight distribution of the polymer before and after spinning. Bright-field microscopy was used to assess the final morphology of the electrospun product, while size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) multi-angle laser light scattering (SEC-MALS) was used to determine changes in the molecular-weight distribution.
