Fabrication of Microropes via Bi-electrospinning with a Rotating Needle Collector

Double helical microropes of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) with diameters of less than 10 mm and lengths of up to 5 cm were fabricated using a new electrospinning technique. In contrast to the typical electrospinning set-up, a negatively charged rotating collector tip was used in this work, so that the two jets from two positively charged spinnerets were induced to two bundles that met at the rotating collector tip, leading to the formation of microropes. The pitch of microropes could be monitored by simply adjusting the distance between the two spinnerets.