Multifunctional membranes based on spinning technologies: the synergy of nanofibers and nanoparticles

Abstract

A multicomponent membrane based on polysulfone nanofibers and titanium dioxide nanoparticles is produced by the coupling of electrospinning and electrospraying techniques. The manufactured product can satisfy a number of conflicting requirements begetting its technical and functional versatility as well as the reliability of the process. As nanoparticle dispersion is a critical issue in nanoparticle technology, their distribution and morphology have been extensively studied before and after electrospraying, and process optimization has been carried out to obtain nanoparticles uniformly spread over electrospun nanofibers. These membranes have been proved to be a good candidate for supported catalysis due to the photocatalytic activity of TiO(2), tested for degradation of CEPS, a mustard agent simulant. At the same time, an effective improvement in filtering properties in terms of pressure drop has also been studied.

Electrospun zein nanofibers incorporating cyclodextrins

“…(Agarwal, Greiner, & Wendorff, 2009;Bhardwaj & Kundu, 2010;Ramakrishna et al, 2006;Teo & Ramakrishna, 2009). Moreover, functional electrospun nanofibrous composite structures can also be produced by incorporating functional additives and/or nanoparticles in the fiber matrix or on the fiber surface (Andrew & Clarke, 2008;Anitha, Brabu, Thiruvadigal, Gopalakrishnan, & Natarajan, 2012;Dong, Wang, Sun, & Hinestroza, 2008;He, Hu, Yao, Wang, & Yu, 2009;Roso, Sundarrajan, Pliszka, Ramakrishna, & Modesti, 2008;Zhang, Shao, et al, 2011). Unique properties of electrospun nanofibers/nanowebs including a relatively large surface area to volume ratio and pore sizes within the nanoscale and multi-functionality due to the presence of functional additives and nanoparticles make them favorable candidates in a variety of application areas such as membranes/nanofilters, wound dressing, tissue engineering, drug delivery, nanotextiles, nanocomposites, energy, environment, etc.…”

Effect of Processing Variables on the Morphology of Electrospun Poly[(lactic acid)‐co‐(glycolic acid)] Nanofibers

“…Therefore, it was used in a variety of applications such as filter membranes, protective clothing, fiber reinforcement in composite materials, tissue engineering scaffolds, and drug delivery systems. [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] To date, many synthetic or naturally occurring polymers have been electrospun to form fibers. The research is primarily focused on the structure, morphology, and transport and permeability properties of electrospun nanofibers.…”

Electrospinning of Cross-Linked Magnetic Chitosan Nanofibers for Protein Release

“…Electrospun nanofibrous membranes are considered to be of great potential in the field of tissue regeneration, since they can closely mimic the extracellular matrix architecture (7)(8)(9)(10)(11). The electrospinning process also provides operational flexibility for incorporating multiple components into nanofiber, such as metal nanoparticles and inorganic nanoparticles (12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17). Magnetic nanoparticles (NPs) are of enormous importance for their prospective biomedical applications such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), tissue repair, immunoassay, detoxification of biological fluids, hyperthermia, and drug delivery.…”