Fabrication of microropes via bi-electrospinning with a rotating needle collector

Abstract

Double helical microropes of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) with diameters of less than 10 μm and lengths of up to 5 cm were fabricated using a new electrospinning technique. In contrast to the typical electrospinning set-up, a negatively charged rotating collector tip was used in this work, so that the two jets from two positively charged spinnerets were induced to two bundles that met at the rotating collector tip, leading to the formation of microropes. The pitch of microropes could be monitored by simply adjusting the distance between the two spinnerets. Double helical nanofilament microropes with diameters of less than 10μm and lengths up to 5cm are fabricated by a modified bi-electrospinning technique. The helicity of the microropes can be varied easily by adjusting the distance between two spinnerets. In principle, microropes consisting of three or more branches of different polymer bundles can be fabricated this way. Copyright © 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.