Electrospinning process using field-controllable electrodes

For the production of uniaxially oriented nanofibers and a three-dimensional, biodegradable scaffold consisting of nanosized fibers, an electrospinning process was modified with a cylindrical auxiliary electrode that was connected to a spinning nozzle to stabilize the initially spun solution and a parallel-plate electrode as a collector generating an alternating-current electric field for collecting spun jets. With the complex electric field in the electrospinning process, biodegradable poly(ε-caprolactone) nanofibers were stacked on a thin, dielectric substrate covering the electrode according to a predetermined design. The degree of orientation of spun nanofibers to the field direction of a target electrode was highly dependent on the applied frequency and field strength of the target electrode.