【材料纺织学院】Centrifugal Spinning: An Alternative Approach to Produce Nanofibers at High Speed and Low Cost
Nanofibers are an important class of material that is useful in a variety of applications, including filtration, tissue engineering, protective clothing, composites, battery separators, energy storage, etc. So far, electrospinning is the most used method for producing nanofibers. A literature search using the Web of ScienceTM database shows that Year 2013 alone had publication of over 2000 articles in the electrospinning of nanofibers. Among these publications, over 50% focused on the investigation of the electrospinning process and the characterization of the resultant nanofibers, and the others mainly address the innovative use of electrospun nanofibers for various applications. However, the wide-spread commercial use of electrospinning is limited due to its low production rate, poor safety, and high cost. Most other nanofiber production methods, such as phase separation, template synthesis, and self-assembly, are complex and can only be used to make nanofibers from limited types of polymers. This presentation introduces a simple, yet versatile technique for producing nanofibers of various materials including polymers, carbons, ceramics, metals, and composites. Centrifugal spinning eliminates the limitations encountered by current nanofiber production methods and can produce nanofibers at high speed and low cost. Centrifugally-spun nanofibers can be used in various applications, including filtration, tissue engineering, protective clothing, composites, battery separators, energy storage, etc. The application of centrifugally-spun nanofibers in energy storage applications will be discussed in this presentation.
