Enhanced electrospinning: Multi-level fiber alignment by control of electrohydrodynamic jet motion for tissue engineering

Abstract

This paper proposes a novel electrospinning method for controllable fiber alignment and deposition on a dielectric substrate by the electric field manipulation using nanosecond rise time high-voltage pulse generators. A peculiarity of the proposed technical solution is the ability to control polymer jet localization in the interelectrode space with the possibility of stabilization and retention of the jet at an arbitrary point. A preliminary numerical simulation shows electric field distribution in proposed geometry with a syringe and two cylindrical collectors. Samples of oriented materials based on a polyamide 6/66 copolymer with 2–4° degrees of disorientation were obtained. The study of thermal and mechanical behavior of oriented materials based on polyamide was carried out, and macromolecular orientation was established by X-ray diffraction in small and wide angles. The possibility to create material by stacking multiple layers with given fiber orientation at 65° and 90° and polymer spinning on various dielectric materials by means of the reverse polarity operating principle is demonstrated. The ability to control fiber alignment in electrospinning will expand the possibilities of high-performance production of polymeric nonwoven materials with a given architecture and unique physicochemical characteristics required for solving a whole range of medical and technological challenges of a different profile.