Electrospun nanomaterials for ultrasensitive sensors

Abstract

Compared with other methods of fiber preparation like drawing, template synthesis, self-assembly, phase separation, etc., electrospinning has emerged as a versatile and cost-effective method for producing long continuous fibers with diameters ranging from several micrometers down to a few nanometers by applying a high voltage on a polymer solution or melt 1 . In 1934, Formhals 2 described the operation of electrospinning in a US patent for the first time; but only since 1990s it has gained substantial attention. The process attracted rapidly growing interests in the past two decades triggered by potential Increasing demands for ever more sensitive sensors for global environmental monitoring, food inspection and medical diagnostics have led to an upsurge of interests in nanostructured materials such as nanofibers and nanowebs. Electrospinning exhibits the unique ability to produce diverse forms of fibrous assemblies. The remarkable specific surface area and high porosity bring electrospun nanomaterials highly attractive to ultrasensitive sensors and increasing importance in other nanotechnological applications. In this review, we summarize recent progress in developments of the electrospun nanomaterials with applications in some predominant sensing approaches such as acoustic wave, resistive, photoelectric, optical, amperometric, and so on, illustrate with examples how they work, and discuss their intrinsic fundamentals and optimization designs. We are expecting the review to pave the way for developing more sensitive and selective nanosensors. (BD) and mwang@lanl.gov (MW) Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license.

A facile route for controlled alignment of carbon nanotube-reinforced, electrospun nanofibers using slotted collector plates

“…Development of cost-effective and reliable techniques for controlled integration of nanowires onto devices is very much essential for the commercialization of nanotechnology related products [3,4]. Among various nanofabrication techniques, electrospinning is a highly versatile and cost-effective process in which, solid micro and nanofibers are produced from a polymeric fluid stream (solution or melt) delivered through a nozzle [5,6]. Several innovative approaches have been introduced in this field for developing nanofibers with varied constitution and structure for diverse applications.…”

Hierarchically Structured Electrospun Fibers

“…In addition to the well-studied gross morphology of electrospun fibers, such as fiber diameter, porosity, and the newer area of micro-to macro-scale patterns, electrospun materials exhibit various other fascinating morphologies, such as helical, ribbon-like, beads-on-a-string, multi-channel tubular, porous honeycomb, nanoporous, nanopillared, core-shell and hollow structures, many of which are also observed in nature [82][83][84][85][86]. Much of the focus in generating nanofibers with hierarchical structures is to impart new properties to the materials, such as superhydrophobicity, self-cleaning, or unique optical properties.…”

Humidity sensing properties of ZnO-based fibers by electrospinning

“…Zinc oxide, which is a wide band gap (3.37 eV) semiconductor with large exciton binding energy (60 meV) [23][24][25] is an ideal candidate on the production of sensors [26,27]. Previously, Qiu and Yang [8] presented that ZnO nanotetrapod film exhibited much higher sensitivity to humidity than ZnO nanoparticles and investigated the response and recovery time as 36 and 17 s, respectively.…”