Recent advances in nanofibre fabrication techniques

Over the past decade, there has been a tremendous increase in the demand for polymeric nanofibres which are promising candidates for various applications including tissue engineering, protective clothing, filtration and sensors. To address this demand, researchers have turned to the development of various techniques such as electrospinning, meltblowing, bicomponent spinning, forcespinning and flash-spinning for the fabrication of polymeric nanofibres. However, electrospinning is the widely used technique for the fabrication of continuous nanofibres. The ability to fabricate nanofibrous assemblies of various materials (such as polymers, ceramics and metals) with possible control of the fibre fineness, surface morphology, orientation and cross-sectional configuration, gives electrospinning an edge over other processes. Although several researches have been done in electrospinning, understanding some of the other processes is still in infancy. In this perspective article, we summarize the fundamentals of various techniques for the fabrication of nanofibres. This paper also highlights a gamut of recent advances in the techniques for nanofibre fabrication.