Abstract
Over the last twenty years, researchers have focused on the potential applications of electrospinning, especially its scalability and versatility. Specifically, electrospun nanofiber scaffolds are considered an emergent technology and a promising approach that can be applied to biosensing, drug delivery, soft and hard tissue repair and regeneration, and wound healing. Several parameters control the functional scaffolds, such as fiber geometrical characteristics and alignment, architecture, etc. As it is based on nanotechnology, the concept of this approach has shown a strong evolution in terms of the forms of the materials used (aerogels, microspheres, etc.), the incorporated microorganisms used to treat diseases (cells, proteins, nuclei acids, etc.), and the manufacturing process in relation to the control of adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation of the mimetic nanofibers. However, several difficulties are still considered as huge challenges for scientists to overcome in relation to scaffolds design and properties (hydrophilicity, biodegradability, and biocompatibility) but also in relation to transferring biological nanofibers products into practical industrial use by way of a highly efficient bio-solution. In this article, the authors review current progress in the materials and processes used by the electrospinning technique to develop novel fibrous scaffolds with suitable design and that more closely mimic structure. A specific interest will be given to the use of this approach as an emergent technology for the treatment of bacteria and viruses such as COVID-19.
Highlights
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Electrospinning is widely attractive to industry and researchers for its scalability, versatility, and potential applications in many fields [1,2]. It is considered one of the most suitable techniques for fabricating nanofibrous scaffolds, which are known for their high physical porosity and huge potential to mimic defects, such as bone defects [3,4,5]
A deformation of a charged liquid meniscus has been studied by Taylor [14,15,16,17], Taylor described a conical stable geometry at the end of the meniscus which is known as a Taylor cone
Summary
The concentration or Berry’s number of a polymer solution or melt play a crucial role in fiber formation during the electrospinning process. In case of keeping the concentration fixed, as molecular weight of the polymer decreases beads formation rather than smooth fiber is the probability. It is important to note that by increasing molecular weight even with low concentration micro-ribbon could be formed [68,69]. Intrinsic Viscosity Viscosity of polymer solution is considered one of the most important parameters affecting electrospun fiber diameter and morphology. Concentration, viscosity and polymer molecular weight all are correlated to each other and one parameter has been used to describe them all named Berry’s number it measures the degree of chain entanglement inside the solvent and can be calculated by the product of concentration by intrinsic viscosity. Increase in the solution conductivity the more possibility of formation of thinner fibers especially in synthetic polymers
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