The History of the Science and Technology of Electrospinning from 1600 to 1995

Abstract

This paper outlines the story of the inventions and discoveries that directly relate to the genesis and development of electrostatic production and drawing of fibres: electrospinning. Current interest in the process is due to the ease with which nano-scale fibers can be produced in the laboratory. In 1600, the first record of the electrostatic attraction of a liquid was observed by William Gilbert. Christian Friedrich Schönbein produced highly nitrated cellulose in 1846. In 1887 Charles Vernon Boys described the process in a paper on nano-fiber manufacture. John Francis Cooley filed the first electrospinning patent in 1900. In 1914 John Zeleny published work on the behaviour of fluid droplets at the end of metal capillaries. His effort began the attempt to mathematically model the behavior of fluids under electrostatic forces. Between 1931 and 1944 Anton Formhals took out at least 22 patents on electrospinning. In 1938, N.D. Rozenblum and I.V. Petryanov-Sokolov generated electrospun fibers, which they developed into filter materials. Between 1964 and 1969 Sir Geoffrey Ingram Taylor produced the beginnings of a theoretical underpinning of electrospinning by mathematically modelling the shape of the (Taylor) cone formed by the fluid droplet under the effect of an electric field. In the early 1990s several research groups (notably that of Reneker who popularised the name electrospinning) demonstrated electrospun nano-fibers. Since 1995, the number of publications about electrospinning has been increasing exponentially every year.

Industrial Upscaling of Electrospinning and Applications of Polymer Nanofibers: A Review

“…Examination of past research allows the appreciation that many fundamental studies and, at a later stage, important issued patents, have contributed to lay the foundation of today's electrospinning technologies 20. In 1600 the English physician W. Gilbert noticed that a water drop sitting on a dry surface is deformed into a conical shape when a piece of rubbed amber is held in its proximity.…”

Electrospun one-dimensional nanostructures: a new horizon for gas sensing materials

“…The electrostatic effect was first described in 1600 by Willian Gilbert [44–45] through a series of experiments using an electrically charged piece of amber. He noticed that a water droplet attained a conical profile in the proximity of charged amber and, if the charge was strong enough, tiny droplets would evolve from the larger water droplet.…”

Application of electrospun fibers for female reproductive health

“…The process of using an electric field to pull a polymer solution into fibers dates back to the 1930s [10], and was later described as ‘electrospinning’ by Reneker et al [11]. Electrospinning has since been widely explored for biomedical applications including drug delivery and tissue engineering.…”