Uniaxial assembly of nanostructured materials by electrospinning

Diverse growth and patterning techniques have been used to build up a hierarchy of order (shape, size and position) in the field of self-assembled nano structures. While the ability to produce nanomaterials with good homogeneity in shape and size improves, it remains challenging to control their lateral alignment and orientation. In this paper, several different anisotropic nanostructured materials are investigated as they were axially assembled by an electrospinning process. During electrospinning, tensile force and shear flow along the axis of the fiber, and confinement due to the fiber formation, induce the preferred uniaxial orientation of encapsulated nanomaterial components. Electrospinning offers a simple but effective means of exerting hierarchical control over nanostructured materials. The oriented nanomaterials produced by this approach can be potentially utilized in various mechanical, electrical, optical, and biological device applications.