Uniaxial Alignment of Electrospun Nanofibers

The conventional setup for electrospinning has been modified to generate uniaxially aligned arrays of nanofibers over large areas. By using a collector with conductive strips separated by an insulating gap of variable width, these arrays could be directly fabricated during the electrospinning process. Directed by electrostatic forces, the charged nanofibers were stretched across the gap in a uniaxially aligned fashion. It was also versatile to stack the nanofibers into multilayered architectures with well-controlled hierarchical structures by using multiple electrode pairs patterned on an insulating substrate. Both methods have been applied to nanofibers consisting of organic polymers, carbon, ceramics, and composites. The facile formation of uniaxially aligned arrays of nanofibers with controlled positions and orientations on a solid substrate makes it possible to fabricate electrospun nanofiber-based devices and systems.