Formation of locally aligned nanofibers by electrospinning on preplaced dielectric particles

The accurate morphology control of electrospun nanofibers is one of the most important and challenging tasks to expand their potential application. In this study, locally aligned nanofibers were successfully fabricated by electrospinning on preplaced dielectric particles. The effects of major parameters such as the distance between dielectric particles, applied voltage, and solution feed rate on the alignment of the nanofibers were systematically investigated. From the experiments, it was found that the nanofibers were well-aligned between dielectric particles when a higher voltage or a smaller inter-particle distance was used. In addition, numerical simulations were performed to elucidate the alignment behavior of the electrospun nanofibers near the dielectric particles. The present results could be useful for the morphology control of electrospun nanofibers, thus expanding their potential applications. (paper)