Fabrication of Nanofibers: Electrospinning and Non-electrospinning Techniques

Abstract

Fabrication of nanofibers has received increasing attention due to their unique properties and wide range of applications in energy production, energy storage, environmental protection and improvement, healthcare, and many more. Nanofibers provide a good material system that can improve the electrical, optical, thermal, and mechanical properties of many types of bulk materials. To date, various materials (metal, metal oxides, ceramics, polymers, and carbon) have been fabricated into nanofibers by electrospinning and non-electrospinning. Hence, several non-electrospinning techniques were developed to improve the production yield of nanofibers. Some of these techniques include solution blowing (or air-jet spinning), drawing techniques, template synthesis, centrifugal spinning, phase inversion/separation, and freeze/drying synthesis. This chapter discusses the designing, fabrication, and properties of nanofibers for various morphologies and compositions. A comprehensive review is presented on electrospinning and non-electrospinning techniques, along with their synthesis mechanisms. The chapter splits the nanofiber fiber fabrication techniques into: physical synthetic routes (e.g., mechanical milling, physical vapor deposition, laser ablation, and electrospinning) and chemical synthetic methods (e.g., Chemical vapor deposition, hydrothermal, sol-gel, template assisted synthesis, sonochemical and microwave synthesis, and electrochemical deposition).