Functionality in Electrospun Nanofibrous Membranes Based on Fiber’s Size, Surface Area, and Molecular Orientation

Abstract

Electrospinning is a versatile method for forming continuous thin fibers based on an electrohydrodynamic process. This method has the following advantages: (i) the ability to produce thin fibers with diameters in the micrometer and nanometer ranges; (ii) one-step forming of the two- or three-dimensional nanofiber network assemblies (nanofibrous membranes); and (iii) applicability for a broad spectrum of molecules, such as synthetic and biological polymers and polymerless sol-gel systems. Electrospun nanofibrous membranes have received significant attention in terms of their practical applications. The major advantages of nanofibers or nanofibrous membranes are the functionalities based on their nanoscaled-size, highly specific surface area, and highly molecular orientation. These functionalities of the nanofibrous membranes can be controlled by their fiber diameter, surface chemistry and topology, and internal structure of the nanofibers. This report focuses on our studies and describes fundamental aspects and applications of electrospun nanofibrous membranes.

High Efficiency Poly(acrylonitrile) Electrospun Nanofiber Membranes for Airborne Nanomaterials Filtration

“…[14,42,43] Fiber diameter can impact the filtration efficiency and therefore selectivity of the materials, while porosity and pore size distribution have a significant effect on pressure drop. [26] Thus, the geometrical, characterization need to be investigated in order to fabricate membranes with high selectivity and relatively low pressure drop.…”

Chiral separation with molecularly imprinted polysulfone-aldehyde derivatized nanofiber membranes☆

“…From this, enhancement of adsorption selectivity is indispensable so that a given molecularly imprinted nanofiber membrane can give higher permselectivity. There might be following plausible methods to enhance permselectivity: (1) an increase in surface area (surfaceto-volume ratio) by narrowing diameter of molecularly imprinted nanofiber membrane, (2) localization of molecular recognition sites on the surface of nanofiber, which would be fabricated by adopting coaxial, two-capillary spinneret [19,[42][43][44][45][46], or (3) applying a higher molecular imprinting ratio. Those three types of method will lead to an increase in concentration of molecular recognition site in the membrane.…”

Investigation of the spontaneous emission rate of perylene dye molecules encapsulated into three-dimensional nanofibers via FLIM method

“…Moreover; it is a convenient method, which allows for manufacturing of regular and long nanofibers of the order of 10 cm. The electrospinning process and the resulting fiber morphology depend on the solution properties (e.g., viscosity, conductivity, surface tension, permittivity, and boiling point) and operating conditions (e.g., applied voltage, spinneret-to-collector distance, and flow rate) [26]. These properties of electrospun nanofibers make them suitable for a wide range of applications such as medicine, tissue engineering, drug delivery control, filtration, sensors, energy and environmental protection [27][28][29][30][31][32] MMA is distilled under vacuum.…”