Deepthi Sista

By Deepthi Sista

Nano fibers are most attractive materials in the scientific world due to their enormous applications in various fields. Their applications start with generation of energy, solution to environmental problems and continues with medical field and many more. Nano materials got much importance from their peculiar electrical, optical, mechanical and thermal properties. Fibrous materials are obtained from several sources and by different mechanisms these materials are converted into nano materials. As of bulk fibers include specific properties compared to other materials, the generation of nano fibers enhance all the properties. The synthesis of nano fibers from natural and synthetic polymers, metals, semiconductors, composite materials, carbon based materials lead to new perspective in science and engineering fields. Most pronouncing techniques that include conventional and modern methods are available to fabricate nano fibers from these materials. Of them some are being used from a long time and some are emerging techniques to generate flexible substrates. Electrospinning, template based synthesis, polymerization, self-assembly, sonochemical synthesis are the conventional methods for the production of nano fibers. New technologies include electro hydrodynamic writing, plasma induced synthesis, centrifugal jet spinning, CO2 laser supersonic marks a trend in development of nano fibrous materials. This chapter give details about fabrication materials and provides synthetic routes to generate them along with applications. Also this chapter focuses on the challenges in development of nano fiber technology in commercial perspective.

Part of the book: Nanofibers