Direct-writing organic three-dimensional nanofibrous structure

Abstract

Direct-writing technology based on Near-Field Electrospinning (NFES) was used to fabricate an organic three-dimensional nanofibrous circle on the patterned silicon substrate. In NFES, straight jet without splitting and chaotic motion was utilized to direct-write orderly nanofiber. When the collector movement speed was lower than electrospinning rate, the relaxed nanofiber would be lead into the pendulum motion by the electrical field force and Coulomb repulsion force from the residual charges on the collector. When the relative air humidity is lower than 35%, individual nanofiber with larger elastic resistance would reveal a good self-assembly performance. Owing to the guidance of the electric field force at the edge of the micro-pattern, a nanofiber was deposited layer by layer to format a 3D nanofibrous circle on the top surface of the micro-pattern. The dimension scale of 3D nanofibrous circle was smaller than 30 µm. With the help of a microscope, a 3D nanofibrous circle can be deposited precisely on the strip micro-pattern with width of 4 µm. Furthermore, a 3D nanofibrous circle in different shapes can be obtained by using special micro-patterns. This organic three-dimensional nanofibrous circle has created a new aspect for the fabrication of organic micro/nanosystems.