Electrospinning: Electrospinning Nanofiber on an Insulating Surface with a Patterned Functional Electrolyte Electrode (Adv. Mater. Interfaces 5/2018)

Electrospinning is a technology that can produce nanofibers with a high aspect ratio. Generally, the nanofiber produced in this way is collected randomly on the collector. In article number 1701204 Geon Hwee Kim, Taechang An, Geunbae Lim and co-workers develop the electrospinning technique using a patterned functional electrolyte as a collector. Because the electrolyte is patterned through the hydrophobicity control on the substrate, it is not affected by the thickness of the collector and it is possible to pattern the aligned nanofibers locally according to the patterning of the electrolyte. The researchers use an adhesion promoter between the nanofibers and the substrate as an example of a functional electrolyte, resulting in superior adhesion performance than patterned nanofibers with other electrolytes. It is also a technique that can be used to make scaffolds for use in studies that controls the orientation of the cells. Orientation of cells can be controlled locally, which is expected to contribute to tissue engineering in the future.