Fabrication and Characterization of Aligned Continuous Polymeric Electrospun Nanofibers

Abstract

A novel collection plate architecture was demonstrated for fabricating highly-aligned continuous electrospun nanofibers. This unique electrospinning platform utilizes various orientations of a three-layer stack to generate the collector plate. Through the use of multiple base plates, insulating apertures and target metal plates, the resultant electric field between the grounded base plates and charged syringe can be split. It is this divergence in the electric field that facilitates the ordered placement of the nanofibers. Ordered, continuous nanofibers have been realized for base plate separations ranging from as large as seven millimeters to as small as 1 mm. The structural properties of these aligned nanofibers are examined utilizing Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). The characterization of the aligned continuous nanofibers has revealed diameters approaching 150 nm. The appearance of standard and some new absorption bands for polypyrrole (PPy) and polyethylene oxide (PEO) confirms the composite formation. Keywords: fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electrospinning, nanofibers, continuous, Aligned