Brenton Boland PhD

Experimental Polymer Physics

Welcome to my website

I received my PhD in physics studying the process of unconfined melt electrospinning. You can find examples of my work such as publications, programming, and design below or use one of the links on the left. You can learn more about me on my about page or by visiting my LinkedIn.

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Unconfined melt electrospinning

A form of melt processing for fiber formation that uses a strong electric field to draw multiple jets of molten material from a reservoir. It is distinct from other drawing techniques due to it’s rapid jet thinning through Taylor cones and bypassing the need for spinnerets or solvents. Melt electrospinning is a promising technique for scalable production of submicron fibers with robust mechanical properties with applications ranging from filtration to biomedical to renewable energy.

Electrospinning publications

In preperation…

Boland B., Sheoran N., Bochinski J. R., & Clarke L. I. Moving from micro- to nanofibers within melt electrospinning. Charge injection using Nanosecond pulsed dielectric barrier discharge decreases fiber diameter in melt electrospinning

Journal of Applied Polymer Science

Boland B., Sheoran N., Bochinski J. R., & Clarke L. I. (2025). Moving from micro- to nanofibers within melt electrospinning. Journal of Applied Polymer Science, e57366. http://doi.org/10.1002/app.57366

Applied Physics Letters

Sheoran N., Boland B., Thornton S., Bochinski J. R., & Clarke L. I. (2023). Enhancing ionic conductivity in polymer melts results in smaller diameter electrospun fibers. Applied Physics Letters, 123(7), 074103. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0162384

Soft Matter

Sheoran N., Boland B., Thornton S., Bochinski J. R., & Clarke L. I. (2021). Increasing ionic conductivity within thermoplastics via commercial additives results in a dramatic decrease in fiber diameter from melt electrospinning. Soft Matter, 17(41) https://doi.org/10.1039/d1sm01101d

Programming experience

I have experience programming data pipelines, systems, microcontrollers, and simulations in a variety of languages (Python, LabView, Arduino, Java, etc.). Click on a post below and follow the GitHub link to see examples of my code.

Posts

Design and prototyping

Below you can find examples of work I have done designing and fabricating various apparatuses and fixtures. Most projects were designed using Autodesk CAD software and fabricated by machining from stock with premade parts incorporated when available.

Posts