Recent developments in electrospun ZnO nanofibers: A short review

Abstract

Especially for the potential use as sensors, but also in all other applications in which an interaction with the environment occurs, nanofibrous materials are advantageous due to their large specific surface area. An interesting material for electrospinning is the semiconductor zinc oxide (ZnO) which is often used in photoelectric or sensory applications. Nanofibers containing ZnO can be produced, for example, by electrospinning polyvinylpyrrolidone/zinc nitrate from a dimethylformamide/ethanol solution, followed by calcination to remove the organic phase. Alternatively, the polymer/semiconductor blended nanofibers can be used which are often less brittle, but on the other hand offer less contact between ZnO and the environment. Finally, decorating a nanofiber mat with ZnO offers another possibility to prepare nanofibers with ZnO surface. Possible applications of electrospun ZnO nanofibers or nanofiber mats include gas sensing, microwave absorption, photocatalytic degradation or enhancement of supercapacitor electrodes. This short review gives an overview of the most recent electrospinning and after-treatment techniques to create pure and blended ZnO nanofibers and presents the broad variety of possible applications of this well-known semiconductor with some still surprising properties.

Efficient removal of water bacteria and viruses using electrospun nanofibers

“…Furthermore, the electrostatic force between positive sites of ZnO nanoparticles with the negatively charged bacteria cells results in cell membrane damage ( Makaremi et al, 2016 ). The incorporation of ZnO NPs into electrospun nanofiber has been conducted through the fabrication of three kinds of nanofiber including (1) prepared synthesized ZnO NPs are blended with the polymeric spinning solution, (2) Zn precursor is incorporated into the polymeric spinning solution and ZnNps are synthesized de novo, (3) post-treatment of electrospun mat with ZnO precursor ( Blachowicz and Ehrmann, 2020 ).…”

Photocatalytic Methylene Blue Degradation of Electrospun Ti–Zn Complex Oxide Nanofibers

“…TiO 2 band gap impurity levels are induced by substituting metal ions for Ti 4+ closest to the conduction band. Zinc oxide is also widely used as a photocatalyst [ 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 ]. Nanostructured ZnO has frequently been fabricated, and it has been used in composites with TiO 2 for photocatalysts.…”

Antimicrobial PAA/PAH Electrospun Fiber Containing Green Synthesized Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles for Wound Healing

“…Different approaches have been used to incorporate zinc oxide into electrospun fibers varying the polymer or the incorporation of particles. In general, electrospun polymer/zinc oxide fibers were obtained by mixing the particles in the polymer solution before the electrospinning, by adding a zinc precursor in the polymer solution and exposing the electrospun fiber to a calcination process, by incorporating the particles after obtaining the fibers, and by performing an in situ synthesis in the electrospun mat [ 18 , 19 ]. In the field of wound healing, electrospun gelatin/ZnONPs were successfully applied as wound dressing [ 20 , 21 ].…”