Electrospinning multi-layered nano-solenoid and reticular micro-tubular structure on a microfiber

Collecting electrospun fibers via rotating collectors has been widely used, however this method is mainly used for obtaining aligned fibers and the radial dimensions of collectors are in macro-scale in order to match the speed of the ejected fiber with that of the collector. As the nanotechnology develops, it is desirable to reduce the collectors into micro/nano-scale and fabricate regular architectures on it. Here, we report a simple and general method to wind electrospun micro/nanofibers made of various materials including polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), zinc acetate/PVP composite (ZnAc/PVP) and as-electrospun 0.5Ba(Zr0.2Ti0.8)O3–0.5(Ba0.7Ca0.3)TiO3 (BZT–BCT) (a mixture of PVP and organometallic compounds containing elements Ba, Ca, Zr and Ti, hereafter denoted as as-electrospun BZT–BCT) around a rotating microfiber served as a collector. By adjusting the collector's rotating speed, multi-layered nano-solenoid made of ZnAc/PVP nanofibers or as-electrospun BZT–BCT nanofibers and reticular micro-tubular structures made of as-electrospun BZT–BCT nanofibers were obtained, respectively. These structures have the potential applications in nano-mechanical, nano-electromagnetic devices and tissue engineering.

► A multi-layered nano-solenoid was made. ► A reticular micro-tubular structure was fabricated. ► The nano-solenoid has potential to be used as nano-inductance for nano-mechanical, nano-electromagnetic devices. ► The reticular micro-tubular structure may be useful in tissue engineering.