Mass Production of Ultrafine Fibers by a Versatile Solution Blow Spinning Method

Abstract

ConspectusUltrafine fiber materials have shown great application prospects in many fields due to their superior properties, including large specific surface area, high porosity, low density, and good mechanical flexibility. Various spinning methods have been developed to prepare ultrafine fiber materials, including electrospinning, solution blow spinning (SBS), centrifugal spinning, melt-blowing, etc. Among them, SBS combines the merits of electrospinning and melt-blowing. Unlike electrospinning, SBS uses a high-speed airflow as the driving force to stretch the spinning solution, and solvent evaporates rapidly in the process of liquid flow movement, thus obtaining ultrafine fibers. Compared with other spinning methods, SBS has many advantages, including simple and safe process, high efficiency, suitability for a wider range of solution systems, controllability of fiber structure and diameter, etc. Since its development in 2009, SBS has received widespread attention and has become an efficient and versatile tool for fabricating various ultrafine fiber materials with controlled microstructures and morphologies. Solution blow spun fibers can be assembled into a variety of configurations, including sponges, mats, papers, and films. The thickness of the fiber materials also can be easily regulated, which is an important advantage of SBS over electrospinning. The various forms of the blow spun fibers enable them to have a wide range of applications in environmental remediation, flexible electronic devices, energy storage and conversion, and biomedicine, among others.In this Account, we review the recent progress of SBS and mainly focus on our group’s contributions to this technology. We begin with an introduction to the principles and setup of SBS, including (1) the mechanism of fiber formation from spinning solution under the action of airflow; (2) the effects of spinning solution parameters (concentration and viscosity), processing parameters (gas pressure, feeding rate and working distance), and ambient conditions on the fiber morphology; and (3) the operation modes and development progress of SBS equipment. Then, we review the latest developments of fiber materials prepared by SBS, including polymer fibers, ceramic fibers, carbon fibers, metal fibers, and polymer-based composite fibers. After that, we discuss the application progress of blow spun fibers in the fields of air filtration, water treatment, sound absorption, electromagnetic interference shielding, flexible electronic devices, high temperature thermal insulation, and uranium extraction. In the final section, we offer some remarks on the challenges, opportunities, and future development directions of SBS technology, especially pointing out the problems and research directions for the engineering of SBS. We envision that this Account will attract more researchers’ attention to SBS technology, thus greatly promoting the development of this technology.