Uniaxially well-aligned nanofiber arrays fabricated by electrospinning with a stable and low moving velocity jet

Aligned fibers in micro-/nano-scale have attracted more attention especially in tissue engineering field because cells can orientation growth along the fiber. However, it is still a huge technological challenge in achieving it as a result of the inherent bending instability of an electrospinning jet. Herein, we report a novel and simple spinning approach, in which low dielectric constant of dioxane was judiciously used as solvent for spinning dope, to obtain electrospinning jet with low induced charge, therefore eliminating electrically and aerodynamically driven bending instability, and forming a stable and low forward-moving velocity jet longer than 100 cm. This consequently allows for readily collecting and fabricating individual fibers, well-aligned ultrafine fiber arrays over large areas. Our approach has proved to be effective in preparing well-aligned ultrafine fibers from biodegradable poly(D, L-lactic acid) with different molecular mass, natural polymer acetyl cellulose and synthesized non-biodegradable polymer polystyrene.