NANOFIBERS, ELECTROSPINNING, AND FILTRATION

摘要

Early investigations and inventions related to the electrohydrodynamical process called electrospinning did not produce textile fibers that could compete with established fiber making technology. The electrospinning process~1,2,3 did prove to be a good route to very thin polymer fibers, with diameters smaller than one micron. These nanofibers, because of their small diameters, have a ratio of surface area to mass that is unusually high. Many kinds of polymers can be made into nanofibers. Most substances that can be dissolved or dispersed in a polymer solution can be incorporated into nanofibers. For example, the fluid jet can expand to cover particles, such as biological cells, which are larger than the diameter of the nanofiber. When the jet dries, the cell is held in the nanofiber by a dry layer of polymer. Cross- linking reactions and other chemical reactions can occur as the nanofiber is formed, so that fibers electrospun from a solution become insoluble.