Mechanical Force for Fabricating Nanofiber

Abstract

Nanofiber has attracted increasing attention owing to its wide applications such as filtration, drug delivery, wound dressing, separator, etc. A lot of fabrication methods are developed in the last few decades, electrospinning method is the most frequently utilized method for producing nanofiber. However, electrospinning features a use of electrical field to produce nanofiber, which have obviously high production cost and a big burden on the environment. And several limitations are observed such as orientation of fibers and limited options of polymer and solvents, so many researchers try to develop more facile and more effective method for making nanofiber. In this chapter, recent developed fabrication methods, handspinning, direct writing, touch and brush spinning, are discussed and the advantages of each methods are described, respectively. They utilize a simple mechanical force instead of electrical force, which delivers great benefits to producing nanofiber such as orientation of fibers along with the force direction, reduction of every cost, availability of various options for selecting polymer and solvents, and a facility to design a pattern with high precision. Those innovative and novel methods will enable us to make functional nanofibers more effective than traditional methods; consequently, they will broaden the application of nanofibers.

Photocatalytic membrane of TiO2/CNT decorated PAN nanofibers with enhanced performance under LED visible-light irradiation

“…As observed in the TEM images, the CNT was randomly oriented in the fiber because the electrical field in the electrospinning process was not translated to the mechanical force to stretch and align the CNT. 41 Aggregation of CNT was clearly observed (Figure 9(c)) in the presence of CNT. The CNT and TiO 2 were incorporated in the fiber and did not just attach to the fiber's surface.…”