What are the applications of nanofibers?
Nanofibers have many possible technological and commercial applications. They are used in tissue engineering, drug delivery, seed coating material, cancer diagnosis, lithium-air battery, optical sensors, air filtration, redox-flow batteries and composite materials.
Why are nanofibers useful?
Nanofibers are considered important by many researchers because of the advantages they offer, such as being lightweight and having small diameters, having high surface-to-volume ratios, and controllable pore structures [78, 79].
What is electrospinning used for?
Electrospinning is a process used to fabricate continuous nanoscale fibers with diameters in the sub-micrometer to nanometer range using a high-voltage power supply.
What materials can be electrospun?
Although electrospun materials are predominantly polymer-based, ceramic, metallic and other bioactive particles can also be introduced into the fibers and subsequently be part of the final nanocomposites.
What are the properties of nanofibers?
Nanofibers are long polymeric filaments, which exhibits the ideal advantages in high porosity, high surface area, high encapsulation efficiency, and controllable morphology, high chemical and thermal stability. The properties of nanofibres could significantly influence the polymeric raw material.
What is meant by nanofibers?
Nanofibers are defined as fibers with diameters less than 100 nm. In the fabric industry, this classification is often extended to include fibers as large as 1,000 nm diameter, which referred to microfibers.
What is the principle of electrospinning?
Principle of Electrospinning. Electrospinning involves an electrohydrodynamic process, during which a liquid droplet is electrified to generate a jet, followed by stretching and elongation to generate fiber(s).
What polymers are used for electrospinning?
Recently, electrospinning has been used in the research of natural and synthetic polymer nanofibers [20] such as cellulose [21], polyurethanes [22], collagen [23] and hyaluronic acid [24]. Electrospinning can be handled to obtain large quantities of fibers using two-layer electrospinning scheme.
Why is electrospinning good?
Electrospinning has gained great interest in the field of regenerative medicine, due to its fabrication of a native extracellular matrix-mimicking environment. The micro/nanofibers generated through this process provide cell-friendly surroundings which promote cellular activities.
What are nanofibers made of?
The Synthetic polymer nanofibers are made from nylon, acrylic, polycarbonate, polysulfones, and fluropolymers among other polymers. The biological polymer nanofibers are made from materials such as polycaprolactum, chitosan, polylactic acid, and copolymer of polylactic/glycolic acid among other biopolymers.
How are nanofibers produced?
Three-dimensional aligned nanofibers are produced from a polymer jet emanating from a high-speed rotating nozzle. This process is termed as rotary jet spinning. Nanofibers are formed from the polymer jet that undergoes stretching before solidification.
How do you use an electrospinning machine?
Electrospinning Technique (IQOG-CSIC) – YouTube
What are polymer nanofibers?
Polymer nanofibers are a consequential class of nanomaterials. The diameter of nanofibers is less than 100 nm. Various fabrication techniques are used for synthesis of nanofibers, including electrospinning [33–38], phase separation [39], melt-blown [40,41], self-assembly [42], and template synthesis [43–45].
How are nanofibers made?
What polymers can be electrospun?
A large number of biocompatible and biodegradable synthetic polymers, such as PCL, poly(lactic acid) (PLA), and poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA), have been directly electrospun into nanofibers and further explored as scaffolds for biomedical applications.