Electrospinning: An Efficient Biopolymer-Based Micro- and Nanofibers Fabrication Technique

Electrospinning, an electrostatic fiber fabrication method, has emerged as an invincible technique for the production of micro- to nanofibers-based polymeric scaffolds. It has gained significant attention and interest in recent years because of its simplicity, scalability, versatility, and potential application in soft-tissue engineering, biosensors, wound dressings, drug delivery, filtration, and enzyme immobilization. Polymeric solution under the influence of a strong electric field produces fibers of nanoscale dimension. The polymeric scaffold and nonwoven nanofibers produced by electrospinning more closely mimic components of extracellular matrix as compared with conventional methods. Submicron-range electrospun fibers manufactured by the electrospinning process offer unrivaled advantages such as high surface-area-to-volume ratio, tunable porosity, and the ability to sway nanofibers composition to obtain anticipated property and function accompanying tailored morphology and orientation. This chapter aims to briefly discuss the basic concepts of electrospinning and its potential application along with solvent properties, solution parameters, and processing conditions, which considerably affect the morphology and orientation of produced nanofibers. This chapter also intends to highlight advancements, challenges, and various applications along with future prospects of the fabricated natural biopolymer-based electrospun scaffolds produced by this invincible technology.