Fabrication of spiral fibre on PET substrate by electrospinning direct-writing for flexible electronics

Spiral fibre has strong flexibility and high porosity, which can be widely used in fabrication of stretchable microelectrode for flexible electronics when functional materials are mixed in fibre. It is attractive and challenging to generate spiral fibre on plastic substrate in a controllable manner. In this paper, polyethylene oxide spiral fibres are successfully fabricated on PET substrate by electrospinning direct-writing. The whole fabrication process of one spiral fibre is observed by a high-speed camera at 10000 fps in order to reveal the internal mechanism. Influence of repulsive forces by remaining electric charges on substrate is the main cause for the unique spiral pattern. This can provide a reference for manufacturing of functional microelectrode in future. (paper)