Electrospinning and Electrospun Nanofibers: Methods, Materials, and Applications.

Electrospinning is a versatile and viable technique for generating ultrathin fibers. Remarkable progress has been made in techniques for creating electro-spun and non-electro-spun nanofibers. Nanofibers were the center of attention for industries and researchers due to their simplicity in manufacture and setup. The review discusses a thorough overview of both electrospinning and non-electrospinning processes, including their setup, fabrication process, components, and applications. The review starts with an overview of the field of nanotechnology, the background of electrospinning, the surge in demand for nanofiber production, the materials needed to make nanofibers, and the critical process variables that determine the characteristics of nanofibers. Additionally, the diverse applications of electrospun nanofibers, such as smart mats, catalytic supports, filtration membranes, energy storage/heritage components, electrical devices (batteries), and biomedical scaffolds, are then covered. Further, the review concentrates on the most recent and pertinent developments in nanofibers that are connected to the use of nanofibers, focusing on the most illustrative cases. Finally, challenges and their possible solutions, marketing, and the future prospects of nanofiber development are discussed.

Electrospun nanofibers are a class of nanomaterials appropriate for various applications, such as smart films, filter membranes, catalytic supports, energy generation modules, conversion and storage, photonic and electronic sensors, biomedical scaffolding, and other devices. Electrospinning is a flexible and versatile technique for processing nanofiber materials; it consists of an electrohydrodynamic process in which liquids are electrified to create a beam and then stretched into fibers. The basic set up for electrospinning is relatively simple and, therefore, accessible to almost every laboratory. The main components are a high voltage DC power supply, a syringe device, a spinner, and a conductive collector. Due to the increasing consumption of polyethylene terephthalate-based products and their waste disposal issue, increasing environmental concern has led us to transform this waste into valuable products. This chapter focuses on the research studies of electrospun waste polyethylene terephthalate to produce nanofiber, applied in a different application.

12 - Metal oxide-based fiber technology in the pharmaceutical and medical chemistry

One of the emerging technologies of the recent times harboring nanotechnology to fabricate nanofibers for various biomedical and environmental applications are electrospinning (nanofiber technology). Their relative ease in use, simplicity, functionality and diversity has surpassed the pitfalls encountered with the conventional method of generating fibers. This review aims to provide an overview of electrospinning, principle, methods, feed materials, and applications toward tissue engineering. To begin with, evolution of electrospinning and its typical apparatus have been briefed. Simultaneously, discussion on the production of nanofibers with diversified feed materials such as polymers, small molecules, colloids, and nanoparticles and its transformation into a powerful technology has been dealt with. Further, highlights on the application of nanofibers in tissue engineering and the commercialized products developed using nanofiber technology have been summed up. With this rapidly emerging technology, there would be a great demand pertaining to scalability and environmental challenge toward tissue engineering applications.

Electrospun fibers have recently gained popularity, particularly in pharmaceutical and biomedical applications, owing to their high surface–to–volume ratio, solubility, versatility, and other special characteristics. Peptide/protein structures from plants and animals, combined with synthetic and natural polymers, are utilized to create biocompatible and biodegradable fibers. Casein, silk fibroin, hemoglobin, bovine serum albumin, elastin, collagen, gelatin, keratin, soy, pea, and zein are some animal and plant proteins used in the production of nanofibers. These animal and plants–derived proteins and synthetic biopolymers are used in the production of electrospun nanofibers. Their potential applications in the pharmaceutical and biomedical fields are discussed in this review. Since proteins have biodegradability and compatibility with living cells, protein–based nanofibers may be of special interest. The natural enzymes of the body can degrade these proteins into absorbable non-toxic amino acids. Although protein-based fibers have several advantages, it is still challenging to standardize their mechanical and physical characteristics. The review highlights the adverse effects of metallic particles incorporated in nanofibers in healthcare applications and concludes with the challenges and prospects protein–based nanofibrous.

Recent advances in developing electrochemical (bio)sensing assays by applying natural polymer-based electrospun nanofibers: A comprehensive review

Electrospun nanofibres are environmentally friendly compounds, when compared with other approaches of manufacturing nanofibres. This study reviews an easy and simple approach process of producing nanofibres called electrospinning. This review further gives an overview and successful methodical approaches to obtain electrospun (ES) nanofibres appropriate for anticancer drug delivery. The properties and characterization of electrospun nanofibres were reported to confirm successful nanofibre production. The application of characterized ES nanofibres is to deliver the anticancer drug to the right target in the human body. The implication of this study is the application of some of the merits of ES nanofibres (biocompatability, biodegradability, low-cost production, small pore size, and ability to transport anticancer drug to the target cell or organ) to overcome the challenges experienced in the use of anticancer chemotherapeutic agents.

Nanotechnology has opened a new direction in biomedical sciences. Nanomedicine and nanodelivery systems offer multiple benefits in treatment of diseases by site-specific and target-oriented delivery of many drugs. Among the various forms of nanocarrier systems, nanofibers have recently proved to be a versatile carrier system for drug delivery applications due to their attractive properties such as target-specific, prolonged delivery of drugs, and ease of fabrication. Polymeric nanofibers can be produced using several techniques such as phase separation, self-assembly, and electrospinning. Electrospinning is a versatile, cost-effective, and scalable technique using electrostatic forces to produce fine fibers from polymer solutions or melts. The nanofiber production by electrospinning enables higher drug loading and entrapment efficiency compared to other nanodelivery systems prepared by other methods. Electrospun nanofibers can be fabricated from a wide variety of solutions of either natural or synthetic polymers, as well as combinations thereof. The type of the polymer can be chosen depending on the treatment, on the nature of the drug, and on the compatibility with the biological environment. During the last several decades, polymeric nanofibers have been explored as controlled drug delivery systems for dermal, transdermal, oral, oromucosal, parenteral, and ocular routes. Recently, electrospun nanofibers have gained more popularity for the topical and transdermal drug delivery and wound dressing applications. Especially, the unique architectural properties like nanoscale morphology, porous structure, and flexibility of electrospun nanofibers make them a suitable option for developing novel wound dressings. However, despite the numerous attractive features of nanofiber composites in drug delivery applications, there are certain major drawbacks which need to be overcome. Drug stability, initial burst release, and scale-up problems foremost require to be solved before bringing nanofiber technology into mainstream drug delivery technologies. In this chapter, first, the basic concepts of electrospinning process and the characterization techniques of electrospun nanofibers are discussed. Then, the most widely used polymers in the composition of drug-loaded nanofibers are presented, and recent applications of nanofibers in dermal drug delivery and wound healing are described.

Electrospun nanofibers, nanocomposites and characterization of art: Insight on establishing fibers as product

Chapter 9 - Electrospun Nanofibers in Drug Delivery: Fabrication, Advances, and Biomedical Applications

Nanotechnology is providing new solutions and opportunities to ensure sustainable energy and environments for the future. Materials of nanofiberous morphology are attractive to solve numerous energy and environmental issues. Nanofibers can be effectively produced by electrospinning, which is a simple and low cost technique. In addition, electrospinning allows the production of nanofibers from various materials e.g. organics and inorganics in different configurations and assemblies. This is highly beneficial for energy devices, where inorganic materials especially metal oxides can be synthesized and electrospun, improving conducting and ceramic properties. Excitonic solar cells fabricated with aligned nanofiberous metal oxide electrodes provide higher solar–electric energy conversion efficiency, whereas fuel cells made with nanofiberous electrodes enable uniform dispersion of catalysts, and thus increase electrocatalytic activity to obtain higher chemical–electric energy conversion efficiency. The nanofibers used in filtration membranes for environmental remediation, minimize the pressure drop and provide better efficiency than conventional fiber mats. The large surface area-to-volume ratio of nanofiber membranes allows greater surface adsorption of contaminants from air and water, and increases the life-time of the filtration media. This review highlights the potential and application of electrospun nanofiberous materials for solving critical energy and environmental issues.

Recent advances in plant protein-based electrospun nanofibers for food applications.

(APS) as an oxidant in the aqueous medium,and nanofibers produced by electrospinning . Electrospun nanofiber mats were by treated heat under air atmosphere to be stabilized. Nanofiber production from AN-IA copolymers and suitability of the nanofiber as carbon nanofiber precursor is discussed. Copolymer are characterized using Fourier Transform Infrared - Attenuated Total Reflectance spectrometer (FTIR-ATR), Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (1H-NMR), differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). The effect of IA content on the spectroscopic and thermal properties of AN-IA copolymers was investigated. Increasing IA content confirmed by spectroscopic methods seriously affects thermal properties which is important for carbon nanofiber production. IA provides a catalytic effect on stabilization process by decreasing initiation cyclization reaction temperature from 202 to 195 oC. Elecrospinning from the AN-IA copolymer solutions in dimethyl foramide (DMF) was performed, morphology of nanofibers was monitored using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Bead free nanofibers were produced from AN-IA copolymer solutions under same conditions. Average nanofiber diameter decreases from 878±18 to 376±7 nm according to increasing IA content in copolymers. The nanofiber mats produced were treated at high temperature under air atmosphere for oxidative stabilization. Stabilized nanofibers were characterized using FTIR-ATR spectrometer and a new structure was monitored as a result of cyclization reactions. The stabilized nanofibers were also characterized mophologically using SEM. Volume loss occurring after heat treatment calculated based on the nanofiber diameter changes. Consequently, electrospun nanofibers can be suggested as a carbon nanofiber precursor due to suitability for electrospinning and stabilization process.

This review is based on the fundamental aspects and applications of polyacrylonitrile (PAN)‐based electrospun composite nanofibers. Various electrospinning techniques have been discussed here. polyacrylonitrile is an acrylic polymer of commercial significance that has superior thermal, mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. The integration of polyacrylonitrile nanofibers with nanoparticles including carbon nanotubes, graphene nanosheets, graphene oxide, metal oxides, and their combinations has greatly improved the physicochemical properties of the polyacrylonitrile electrospun nanofibers. The enhanced features of polyacrylonitrile nanofibers have resulted from interfacial bonding of nitrile groups with the nanofiller used, chemical compositions, hydrophobicity, porosity, and wettability of these nanofibers. This article fundamentally features a few key possibilities of polyacrylonitrile‐based electrospun composite nanofibers and their applications. A special focus has been made on polyacrylonitrile‐based inorganic nanoparticles, graphene nanosheets, graphene oxide, and carbon nanotubes embedded electrospun nanofibers, for their potential applications in supercapacitors, high power batteries, filtration membranes, electromagnetic interference shielding, and strain sensors. Achieving low cost, high selectivity, excellent recyclability, and high absorption capability are the major challenges for electrospun nanofiber fabrications. These electrospun nanofibers require extensive research in the future to advance the technologies to bring them to the commercial market.

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of different polyacrylonitrile (PAN) ratios and metal salts in the solution on fiber formation during nanofiber production via the electrospinning method. In the experimental process, PAN solutions were dried in an oven and prepared at weight ratios of 5%, 7%, and 10%, then added to 10 grams of dimethylformamide (DMF). To achieve the targeted (Co0,2Cu0,2Mg0,2Ni0,2Zn0,2)O structure in the nanofibers, cobalt acetate, copper acetate, magnesium acetate, nickel acetate, and zinc acetate metal salts were added to the solution at specific ratios. The addition ratios of the metal salts to the solution ranged between 30% and 50%. Scanning electron microscopy analysis of the nanofiber morphology revealed that different PAN and metal salt ratios directly affected fiber thickness and structural integrity. It was observed that lower PAN ratios increased nanofiber thinness. The thinnest fibers were obtained using 5% PAN and 35% high-entropy metal oxide, demonstrating that solutions with low viscosity produced finer and more homogeneous fibers during electrospinning. Metal salt ratios were also found to significantly influence the surface structure and porosity of the fibers. The chemical bonding structure of the synthesized nanofibers was examined using Fourier- transform infrared spectroscopy. In conclusion, this study highlights the critical importance of optimizing solution components in nanofiber production via electrospinning to enhance fiber quality and properties. Adjusting PAN concentration and metal salt ratios precisely play a key role in achieving the desired fiber characteristics.