Direct fabrication of twisted nanofibers by electrospinning

The authors have fabricated artificial twisted nanofibers that resemble naturally twisted fiber structures, such as collagen fibril and double-strand DNA, using a modified conventional electrospinning system to directly develop the twisted nanofibers. The system modification allowed for the fabrication of twisted nanofibers by controlling the whipping jet using a modified electric field from an auxiliary electrode. Moreover, the authors calculated the magnitude of the electric field strength vectors using the Maxwell software program to identify the effect of the rotating electric field on the auxiliary electrode. Twisted nanofibers have a potential application in biomimetics, such as in artificial muscles, actuators, and nanoelectromechanical systems. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.