Publications

Abstract : Electrospinning technology has advanced significantly over the past two decades, and fibrous materials in multitudes of geometries, ranging from the conventional 2D membranes to 1D fiber bundles or yarns and recently 3D textile constructs have been developed. Of these, innovations in the engineering of electrospun fibers in the form of yarns, which circumvent the limitations of conventional electrospun fibers in terms of their mechanical characteristics, have emerged important. Nanoyarns which consist of thousands of nanofibers bundled together are advantageous because the fibers in yarns retain their nanoscale diameters required for functional benefit, but concurrently exhibit much improved mechanical properties that is key to the manufacturing of scaled-up products. This book chapter elucidates the innovations in nanofibrous yarn fabrication using DC and AC fields, diverse collector designs and modifications in the electrospinning assembly. The advantages and limitations of each of the methods utilized are discussed by highlighting the process yield, mechanical strength, scalability, and ease of fabrication. These nanofibrous yarns by retaining the functionality of fibers also meet the mechanical requirements of various textile processing techniques for developing scalable constructs. The chapter concludes with an overview on the diverse applications of electrospun nanoyarns, with emphasis in the field of biomedicine.