ABSTRACT
Through numerous applications of nanomaterials, improvements in several fields such as drug delivery, medicine, textiles, and superior structures and materials have been undertaken. Nanofibers, made up of several types of materials, including polymers, composites, metals, and ceramics, find applications not only in drug delivery, but in enzyme support, pharmacy, wound dressing, medicine, tissue engineering, filtration, conducting polymers and composites, fiber templates for the preparation of functional nanotubes, besides many others. There are some methods that are used to synthesize nanofibers, including drawing, template synthesis, phase separation, self-assembly, and electrospinning. The most widely used method is electrospinning. Nanocellulose and carbon nanofibers are examples of nanofibers which have a higher strength, purity and crystallinity and can replace their conventional counterparts. There are many instances where nanoparticles, such as silver nanoparticles, can be improved when grafted onto the surface of nanoparticles to increase their antibacterial properties. For each use of nanomaterials, the biggest challenge can be to imitate the materials currently being used, especially in the medical field, and in tissue engineering, where these play an important role which was hitherto impossible to fill. Chapter 7 provides a holistic account on nanofibers and the applications these novel nanomaterials find in diverse realms related to biomedicine.
