Nanopottery: coiling of electrospun polymer nanofibers

We show that a nanoscale polymer solution electrojet can coil to form free-standing hollow pottery as the jet is focused onto a sharp electrode tip. A scaling law is given based on the balance of the electrostatic compression force and the elastic resistance to predict the coil radius and frequency as the functions of relevant physical parameters. The structures formed by the nanofibers can be used in diverse fields of nanotechnology, for example, as nanomagnets, bioscaffolds, and nanochannels.