Weaving nanofibers by altering counter-electrode electrostatic signals

Abstract

Orderly aligned polymer nanofibers can facilitate the technological advancement of applications such as gas sensors, functional fabrics, biological and medical engineering, water and air purification filters, fuel cell membranes, ultra-speed fiber optics, and electronics. The electrospun nanofibers were actively controlled by rapidly altering the signals, and this enabled their orthogonal deposition. The tunable alternating signals imposed on the counter electrodes facilitate the fiber-on-demand (FOD) method as a potential intricate patterning tool. The method is simple and requires no post-processing. This proof-of concept can be extended in order to design more complex patterns through the intelligent design of the counter electrodes.