Electrospinning: From Fundamentals to Applications

Abstract

Electrospinning is not only a unique and fascinating process for the production of polymeric nanobers with diameters ranging from 3 nm to 20 µm, but also the simplest and inexpensive technique to fabricate ultrane continuous polymeric bers. Electrospinning is also known as electrostatic spinning and electrospraying. In the last few years, electrospinning has become popular among academic researchers and industries as it overcomes the various processing diculties in the other nanober-forming techniques. Some of the other techniques for the production of polymer nanobers are drawing, template synthesis, phase separation, and self-assembly (Table 5.1). While electrospinning can produce nanobers, its conventional counterparts, such as melt spinning, dry spinning, gel spinning, and wet spinning, can only produce microbers (Figure 5.2) (Gibson et al. 2001). Almost all the straight chain homopolymeric materials have been actively investigated for developing nanobers by electrospinning. Meanwhile, various FIGURE 5.1 Electrospun nanobers have high surface area. (Reprinted from Colloids Surf., A, 187-188, Gibson, P., Gibson, H.S., and Rivin, D., Transport Properties of Porous Membranes Based on Electrospun Nanobers, 469-481. Copyright 2001, with permission from Elsevier.) semicrystalline and amorphous polymers, natural and synthetic biopolymers, polymer blends, and block copolymers can also be converted into nanobers via the electrospinning technique. © 2017 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.