Electrospinning

Electrospinning is a method of nanofabricating fibers with diameters ranging from around 50 nanometers to 1 micrometer. It is an electrohydrodynamic process that uses electrostatic force to stretch a polymer solution. Materials can therefore be processed at the nanometer scale, enabling fiber geometries to be determined very precisely and systems with well-defined properties to be obtained, thus enhancing their performance. Nanofibers produced by electrospinning can have different architectures: porous or hollow fibers, dual (core/shell) or multicomponent fibers, and so on. They can be obtained from a wide range of polymers or composites, and usually form a non-woven membrane whose porosity can be controlled by production parameters. The nanofibers and membranes thus formed have an extremely high surface-to-volume ratio and are also very light with a very low density, making them interesting for a multitude of applications, for example in the field of filtration, the controlled release of substances or for the manufacture of membranes used in batteries. In the biomedical field, these membranes are used in particular in tissue engineering. Biopolymers can be used to build biocompatible structures for in vitro cell growth.

Rayleigh's electrostatic studies of drops in the 1880s were at the origin of electrospinning technology, followed by the first work on liquid spraying using an electric field in the early 20th century. The first patent on the principle dates back to 1934, and a patent for electrospinning equipment was filed in 1944 . However, it was not until 1990 that the development of this technology took off, with the publication of studies on the spinnability of various polymers and the influence of different manufacturing parameters on fiber diameter and properties . Over the last twenty years or so, the number of scientific publications has grown exponentially, with over 4000 publications/year since 2018 .

Electrospinning...