ABSTRACT
The emergence of nanotechnology has enabled advancements in the fields of bioengineering, textile, polymer, and pharmaceutical sciences. Recently, this interdisciplinary fusion has raised the demand for nanofibers and their application in wound healing, scaffolds for tissue engineering, drug delivery system, and protective textiles. Various electrospinning and non-electrospinning techniques are used for nanofiber synthesis. These electrospun nanofibers are promising and versatile for drug delivery and regenerative medicine, attributable to their unique characteristics such as higher ratio of surface vs volume, sustained drug release and ease of functionalization with bioactive molecules. Further, researchers have modified the setup of basic electrospinning technique specifically spinneret and collection devices to form co-axial electrospinning, multi-jet electrospinning, blend, centrifugal and emulsion electrospinning. These techniques help in overcoming the limitations associated with electrospinning method and thereby, fine-tune the resultant fibers. This chapter highlights recent developments in the production of nanofibers using various electrospinning techniques. In addition, this work also provides a comprehensive review of several non-electrospinning techniques and their application as biotextiles. Furthermore, emerging scopes for synthesized nanofibers in wound dressings, tissue engineering, drug delivery and medical diagnostics are reviewed and summarized. Lastly, future research aspects are put forward.
