Active real-time electric field control of the e-jet in near-field electrospinning using an auxiliary electrode

Near-field electrospinning (NFES) is an additive manufacturing technique that allows for both high-resolution 3D structures and a wide variety of printed materials. Typically, a high electric field between a nozzle, the spinneret, and the substrate creates a μm-sized jet of a supplied liquid material. With mm distances between spinneret and sample, it is possible to have a fair control of the lateral placement of the deposited material. The placement is, however, distributed by various electrostatic phenomena, and this is one of the present challenges in developing NFES into a more versatile technique. In this paper, a higher degree of control in NFES placement was achieved through manipulation of the electric field direction, using an auxiliary steering electrode. The position of a polycaprolactone plastic jet was determined in real-time with a camera attached to a stereo microscope. The measured position was used to calculate an applied potential to the steering electrode to guide the plastic jet to the desired position. The placement accuracy was measured both at the substrate and during flight using the camera and microscope. The higher control was revealed through the deposition of plastic fibers in a pattern with decreasing separation, with and without the active steering electrode enabled. It is in the authors' opinion that the fabrication of dense structures could be possible with further refinement of the technique.