Apparatus and a method of drawing a fibre

A method of drawing a fibre, the method comprising,

• dispensing a volume of a first polyionic polymer solution from a first outlet;
• dispensing a volume of a second oppositely charged polyionic polymer solution from a second outlet, said second outlet being disposed adjacent to the first outlet;
• contacting the volume of the first polyionic polymer solution and the volume of the second polyionic polymer solution to form a fused droplet comprising a polyelectrolyte complex interface separating the first polyionic and second polyionic polymer solutions;
• coupling a starting portion of the fibre to a tip member disposed between, or in close proximity to, the first and second outlets, wherein an adhesive substrate is disposed at an apex region of the tip member to facilitate coupling to the starting portion of the fibre;
• moving the fused droplet along a fibre drawing path under gravitational force in an opposing direction from the first and second outlets;
• and
• drawing nascent fibre from the polyelectrolyte complex interface.

An apparatus for drawing a fibre, the apparatus comprising,

• two or more outlets, each outlet configured for dispensing a volume of a polyionic polymer solution,
• a tip member disposed between, or in close proximity to, the two or more outlets for coupling to a starting portion of the fibre;
• and
• an adhesive substrate disposed at an apex region of the tip member to facilitate coupling to the starting portion of the fibre;
• wherein the two or more outlets are arranged such that the polyionic polymer solutions dispensed therefrom are capable of contacting each other to form a fused droplet comprising at least one polyelectrolyte complex interface, each of the at least one polyelectrolyte complex interface separating two volumes of oppositely charged polyionic polymer solutions;
• and
• wherein the fused droplet is arranged to move along a fibre drawing path under gravitational force in an opposing direction from the two or more outlets such that nascent fibre is drawn from the at least one polyelectrolyte complex interface.