Dual Electric Field Induced Alignment of Electrospun Nanofibers

A dual‐field method is described to produce aligned fibers by electrospinning. By applying a secondary electric field perpendicular to the primary field, control over the orientation of the fibers on the collector is obtained. The dual‐field approach is used in conjunction with dual electrodes and a rotating collector. Both approaches were used to electrospin poly(lactic acid) fibers under conditions intended to produce fibers with a diameter greater then 400 nm to aid observation by optical microscopy and digital photography. Digital photography was used to visualize a large area of aligned fiber and image analysis software was used to quantify the degree of alignment. Fibers aligned with the aid of a dual field showed better alignment than those from a single electric field under otherwise identical conditions.