Turning nanofibres into products: Electrospinning from a manufacturer’s perspective

Abstract

In recent years, the interest in electrospinning research and development has grown dramatically, with new nanofibrous materials and applications being reported in peer-review journals every month. Application areas are as broad ranging as medical devices, filtration, electronics, composites, energy generation and storage, sensing, acoustics and more. Despite the clear potential for nanofibres to be used in each of these industries, the uptake in terms of the number of commercialised products that use electrospun nanofibre remains very limited, with air filtration being the only sector in which they are used extensively. In this chapter, the current state of the electrospinning industry is discussed, including recent advances in commercial-scale electrospinning and other competing technologies. The challenges that are faced by commercial electrospinning companies are highlighted, helping to explain the limited commercialisation and uptake of electrospinning by industry. To finish, some examples of nanofibre products that are currently available or being commercialised are given, with an outlook on what the future may hold for electrospun nanofibre technologies in the years to come.