Structure and Mechanical Properties of Electrospun Nanofibers and Nanocomposites

Although the technique of electrospinning originated from the 1930s (Formhals 1934), the rapid development of this technique to produce continuous nanoscale fibers only took place in the past decade. This is due to the development in various fields that require the controlled production of nanofibers such as tissue engineering, fuel cells, filter media, chemical and biosensors, etc. (Huang et al. 2003; Chronakis 2005; Subbiah et al. 2005; Zhang et al. 2005; Pham et al. 2006). The demand for electrospun nanofibers can be attributed to the ease and cost-effectiveness of mass production, as well as the high surface area-to-volume ratio and excellent mechanical properties that are inherent in electrospun nanofibers. In order to further enhance the unique properties of nanofibers, composite nanofibers have been produced by adding reinforcement materials or combining two or more polymers.