Electrospinning Technology to Produce Innovative Nanostructured Polymer Materials: Current Applications and Future Perspectives

The electrospinning technique is recognised worldwide as a promising, simple and cost-effective tool for the preparation of nanofibers and/or microfibers with a broad range of applications. Electrospun membranes offer several advantages compared to other fibrous yarns, such as a high surface area and an interconnected porous structure, as well as the possibility to produce functionalized and composite materials in a single step procedure. In particular, in the last decade, a lot of progress has been made in obtaining highly efficient filter membranes for water and air purification, packaging for products able to increase food shelf life, implantable biomedical scaffolds with enhanced cell viability and drug delivery capabilities, energy harvesting devices, biosensors and cultural heritage conservation. The great feasibility of electrospinning indeed allows the obtaining of structures with tailor-made properties depending on the desired purpose; however, besides the recent advancements, the electrospinning technique still remains a challenge at the industrial scale. In this regard, rheology has been demonstrated to provide useful information, being able to correlate the viscoelastic properties of the starting materials with the electrospinning process itself and the final product features.