Electrospinning highly aligned long polymer nanofibers on large scale by using a tip collector

The authors developed a very simple alignment technique by which highly aligned polymer nanofibers of length >25cm were electrospun over a lateral range as large as 63cm. This technique is based on a modified configuration, application of a tip collector, and sideward ejection. The salient feature of the electrospinning process is the production of single nanofibers one by one, which was clearly confirmed by real-time images taken by a high-speed camera. Aligned polycaprolactone, polyacrylonitrile, and carbon nanofibers were prepared by this method.