Nanofiber

Introduction

Nanofibers refer to wire-like materials with a certain aspect ratio, and their cross-sectional diameters are tens to hundreds of nanometers. Nanofibers have extremely high specific surface areas and are capable of forming highly porous network networks with significant interconnectivity between pores, making them attractive options for many advanced applications. Nanofibers are mainly made from polymer raw materials through different spinning techniques, including natural polymers and synthetic polymers.

Features

When the fiber size reaches the nanoscale, its physical and chemical properties will change, mainly in the following aspects:

• Surface Effect
  The smaller the particle size, the larger the surface area. Since the surface particles lack the coordination of adjacent atoms, the surface energy is extremely unstable, and it is easy to combine with other atoms, showing strong activity.
• Small Size Effect
  Due to the increase in specific surface area and the decrease in volume, the reactivity and selectivity are significantly improved, and ultra-low consumption can be realized. As the fiber diameter is nanosized, the acoustic, optical, electromagnetic, and thermodynamic properties of the material will change.
• Supramolecular Arrangement Effect
  Due to the regular arrangement of molecules, self-organization can be achieved, so that unified functions can be displayed.
• Hierarchy Effect
  Namely, a new effect due to the nano-hierarchical structure at the level of nano-polymer chains.

Applications

• Energy and Storage Applications
  Nanofibers have received extensive attention in energy production and storage. Specific application examples include batteries and fuel cells, solar cells, supercapacitors, hydrogen storage and production, piezoelectricity, and more.

Nanofibers for lithium ion battery application. [1]

• Environmental Applications
  Combined with the structural and performance characteristics, nanofibers have great potential for environmental applications. Both pristine and adsorbent or catalyst functionalized nanofibrous materials have been actively prepared for the removal or separation of submicron contaminants and pollutants from liquid and gaseous environments based on various physical and chemical techniques, notably adsorption and ultrafiltration. Nanofiber-based photocatalysis has also been intensively studied for the degradation of pollutants and various toxic environmental chemicals. Furthermore, nanofibers synthesized from metal oxide semiconductors have been actively explored in many chemical and gas sensing applications, including air quality detection, toxic and flammable gas detection, and environmental monitoring.
• Biomedical Applications
  Biomedical applications are also one of the emerging applications of nanofibers. In healthcare and biomedical engineering, nanofibers can be used in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, wound dressings, drug and therapeutic agent delivery, biosensing, and more. Numerous methods have been developed to fabricate nanofibers, such as phase separation, electrospinning, melt blowing, bicomponent spinning, force spinning, flash spinning, template synthesis, and self-assembly. Due to their biomimetic properties and easy-to-design nanostructures, nanofibers are of continued interest. [2]

New forms of electrospun nanofiber materials and their biomedical applications.

References

1. Kenry, et al. Progress in Polymer Science, 2017, 70, 1-17.
2. Shixuan Chen, et al. J. Mater. Chem. B, 2020, 8, 3733-3746.

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