Nanofiber Technology: History and Developments

Nanofibers are defined as fibers with diameters on the order of 100 nm. Nanofibers have been considered one of the top interesting studied materials for academicians and one of the greatest intriguing materials for modern industry. Nanofibers provide great opportunities for creating products with new properties via various physical and chemical modifications during or following the production process. Nanofibers bring promising solutions for fundamental problems in our life in various fields such as energy, environmental, and medical treatments. Researchers have turned to the development of a number of nanofiber fabrication techniques such as electrospinning, template-assisted synthesis, melt-blowing, bicomponent spinning, force-spinning and flash-spinning, chemical vapor deposition, and physical vapor deposition. However, the electrospinning is the widely used technique to produce continuous nonwoven nanofiber mats. In this chapter, a brief introduction to nanoscience and nanotechnology was discussed, and then the history and development of nanofiber technologies and production techniques are presented. In the following, types and classifications of nanofibers based on their origin and morphologies and their unique properties are explained, and finally, some current applications and their future perspectives are discussed.