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Low-Voltage Continuous Electrospinning Patterning

Published version
Peer-reviewed

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Authors

Li, X 
Wang, L 
Ma, G 
Meng, F 

Abstract

Electrospinning is a versatile technique for the construction of microfibrous and nanofibrous structures with considerable potential in applications ranging from textile manufacturing to tissue engineering scaffolds. In the simplest form, electrospinning uses a high voltage of tens of thousands volts to draw out ultrafine polymer fibers over a large distance. However, the high voltage limits the flexible combination of material selection, deposition substrate, and control of patterns. Prior studies show that by performing electrospinning with a well-defined "near-field" condition, the operation voltage can be decreased to the kilovolt range, and further enable more precise patterning of fibril structures on a planar surface. In this work, by using solution dependent "initiators", we demonstrate a further lowering of voltage with an ultralow voltage continuous electrospinning patterning (LEP) technique, which reduces the applied voltage threshold to as low as 50 V, simultaneously permitting direct fiber patterning. The versatility of LEP is shown using a wide range of combination of polymer and solvent systems for thermoplastics and biopolymers. Novel functionalities are also incorporated when a low voltage mode is used in place of a high voltage mode, such as direct printing of living bacteria; the construction of suspended single fibers and membrane networks. The LEP technique reported here should open up new avenues in the patterning of bioelements and free-form nano- to microscale fibrous structures.

Description

Keywords

electrospinning, direct writing, bacteria patterning, 3D architectures, biomembrane, biofabrication, nanofibre

Journal Title

ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1944-8244
1944-8252

Volume Title

8

Publisher

American Chemical Society
Sponsorship
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/M018989/1)
Royal Society (RG140479)
EPSRC (1355652)
Studentship and scholarship funding supports from the China Scholarship Council scholarship, EPSRC doctoral training partnership, Schlumberger Foundation, WD Armstrong Trust